Full text of "Computer Gaming World Issue 180"

See other formats

r ff

[■ ■ i

1 1 j ^

L, - ^

Face real-to-life warfare with
true Une-of-sight, realistic scale
and accurate physics.

Play from the traditional full
3-D RTS view or zoom into the
action for sharper detail.

Track and kill through a variety
of first-person shooter indoor/
outdoor combat situations.

Blow your cover as a modern-
day mercenary and become a
living, breathing, human target.

AcliVisioN.

AcIiVisioH

tRviKieiilsat«es>C'edli^d!iiurksMDii1iSei9nl5 9tai)emafkolAclivhioalrcei997'l9nAnivi5lon,KB3dlenoeliiIradaiat1idAUriloUiK^

The Uuqixra»>IUen«tanisattadsm[ilWtraVW?iMshiAg.lKC 1999 WtiitiVMIPublisNn9.lKei999 NKisticSonm Inc. htloM and distnHitedliiAcIMsion.AII tights nscned. All oner ndnn^iMliMeiBinesntl«pn(etinollhMi?ipKUnowiios.

Annihilate enemies, organize
troops, manage resources, and
snipe other soldiers.

Survive a stunning 3-D world-
from medieval Prague to
modern New York.

Command an extensive range or
vehicles, buildings and units in
the explosive sequel.

Live the unlife of a vampire and
determine his destiny over 800
years in a thrilling PPG.

1 — ]

r BB

[■ j

AcWilioH.

AcliVisioN.

Coming Soon to

SoftwareForPCs.com

dislrWMb»tel»ision,lrtSo«WotPoftune'lsafEj5leredlrs«niaikolOtnJoafiriw,LW.nyspn)«liKlWBini»rt^ tosedlrmli Software, ht(-MTeelii»iiieO. Id TeclviologreiB97 Id SonraiftliK-BiiipW^ olDatknesa are legistwtdtrtdemafts and Vampire:

Leve[ by level, the all-new single-
player experience delivers the
intensity of a live deathmatch.

Experience multiplayer Internet
Deathmatches with bristling
response times and controls. '

Fear goes state-of-the-art with
smothering fog, flickering shad-
ows and retina-searing effects.

AdiVisioH

Finally, a starship naval combat game
worthy of the name

Star Trek’

Koniulaii Datllvhawk
Destroyer (It-llII)

4 I’haser Is
2 Plasma Gs
2 Tractors
I Transporter
Size Class: 4

Using data from the best-selling
V strategy board game, Star Fieet
Hatties; Starfleet Command' puts
you in the captain's chair for
the most amazing reai-time
space combat experience
ever created.

Dozens of multifunctional
display panels offer Instant
access to every critical system,
Weapons, Shields, Sensors,
Transporters, Marines,

Mines, Engineering,

Science, and Energy
Management.

Every good tactician knows
there's a fine balance between
speed and raw power. Choose from
four classes of ships and over 50 3-D
rendered hull designs.

STAR TREK©: Slarfleel Command"' SoRwate ©1999 InienJiay Ptoduclions. All Riglils Reserved. ® 4 © 1999 Paramou
Pictures. All Riglils Reserved. Ponions ©1979-1999 Amarillo Design Bureau. All Rights Reserved. Portions C Quicksilv
Soltware, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Some elemenis Based upon the board games created by Amanllo Design Bureau. Star Trek
a icglsieted trademark ol Paramount Pictures and Starlleet Command and related marks are trademarks ol Paramount Picture
All Rights Reserved. Interplay, tho Interplay logo, ’By Gamers. For Garners.', 14' Easi and the 14' East logo are trademarks
Interplay Productions. Quicksilver Soltware and the Quicksilver Soltware logo are trademarks ol Quicksilver Soltware. Inc. Ewlusivr
icensed and disIrlBuled by Interplay Productions. All oilier trademarks and copyrights are the property o! Itieir respective owners.
Go to #165 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

All shots arc actual gameplay screens.

Command over 50 unique campaign
missions generated by the Dynaverse
engine, and reenact classic scenarios
from the original series.

COMMAND

www.interplay.com/sfcommand.html

J Pledge
allegiance in the
Klingon Empire, the
United Federation of
Planets, the Romulan
Star Empire, the Hydran
Kingdoms, or the Lyran
Star Empire.

'v Multiple tutorials and
technicals will introduce the
controls necessary for you to
take command.

V Numerous multi-player options
include 'Pass the Tribble' and
cooperative Starbase Assault with up
to 6 players. Or go head-to-head via
modem or serial cable.

Federation
Heavy Cmiser (F-CA)

4 Photon Torpedoes
2 Phaser Is
2 Tractors
3 Transjjorter
Size Class; 3

"A choice blend of
impressjwe technology
and original gameplay-.

NextGeneratlon

'Flying and dealing death
from Arokh's back is an
undeniable blast"'

OnUne Gaines Review

DRAKAN Order ol the Flame, Psygnosis and the Psygnosis logo are TM or ® of
Psygnosis Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The ratings Icon Is a trademark of the
Interactive Digital Software Association. Windows* Iseither a registered trademark or
trademark of Microsoft Corporation In the United ^tafes and/or other countries. All
trademarks and/or register^ trademarks are property of Iheir respective owners.

^^bSs is DRAKAN Order of the
Flame'." A fantasy world replete
with ever-present danger and the
dark remnants of an ancient war.
Bonded by an age-oid alliance are
Rynn, a quick-witted skillful
warrior and Arokh, her powerful
draconian steed. Together they
embark on a treacherous Journey
to defeat a dark plot to destroy
the world of Drakan.

Experience the thrill of flying
through vast, breathtaking 3D
worlds. Master 50 different hand-
to-hand combat weapons, employ
up to five magical items and rule
the skies with five different
dragon attacks. Multiplayer
support for up to eight players
lets you reign supreme over
Internet or LAN.

Actual Game Screen

It’s a beautiful day _

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD...

EXCEPT FOR THREE DOMINATE SPECIES

TRYING TO ANNIHILATE EACH OTHER.
Playing as 3 unique species, Giants: Citizen Kabuto
will take you to surreal worlds combining 3D arcade
action, blow-your-mind graphics, a dash of strategy
and a few dodgy laughs. All of which make a
perfect canvas for sheer brute savagery in a single
or multiplayer ass whuppin' experience.

So, shut all the doors, turn off the lights, and wheel
Grandma into the garden -

- - IS COMING!

X uV-n i 'O

A species of lovely, ethereal females
who can decimate enemies with the
cast of a spell and stilt retain their
vixen charm.

BY GAMERS. FOR GAMERS.

www.interplay.com

16815 Von Karman Ave. Irvine
Go to #135 @ www.computergaming.com/infoIink

ir survi&al,

mmmm

wmmmmmm

MMMfi

JULY 1999 • ISSUE 180

COMPUTER

GAMING

W^ORLD

T he push to
bring multi-
player gam-
ing to the
masses is on, with
QUAKE III: ARENA,
TEAM FORTRESS 2,
and UNREAL TOUR-
NAMENT hoping to
capture the trigger
fingers and wallets of
John Q. Gamer. After
exclusive playtesting
of these hellaciously
hot titles, we tell you
which shooter packs
the most deathmatch
punch and which will
capture the team
player flag, and we
make our fearless
prediction as to how
this battle of the
titans will wind up.

COVER STORY

Internet

Audio for Gamers

fii ^

' ' Speed Up Your PC lor Free!

In a lull between big games? Take some time
to tune up your system. From defragging
your hard drive to adjusting your swap file
and disk cache settings, there are several
things Loyd Case recommends for getting
more from your system.

D ouble your pleasure,
double your fun:
Assail your victims
in realtime over the
Internet with these cool
new headsets. If you're

looking to improve your
gaming experience with
voice support, our technical
gurus will set you straight
on which audio solution is
best for you.

PREVIEWS

Interview with COMMAND &
CONQUER’S “Kane.”

MiG Alley

Big fast jets fighting other big fast jets in Korea. Who
could ask for more? S2

Desert Fighters

Hunt some Desert Fox in the latest WWII sim from the
guys who brought you ACES OF THE PACIFIC 66

Battlezone II

The sequel to C6W'% Action Game of the Year leaves
the solar system for more alien-busting, hovertank
warfare 58

Drakan

Lara Croft may pack an Uzi, but DRAKAN's Rynn has an
enormous, fire-breathing dragon between her legs. Will
third-person action gaming ever be the same? ... .60

READ. ME

• SCOOP! HALF-LIFE: OPPOSING FORCE

revealed.

• l-Magic’s WARBiRDS team resign:

• Denny Atkin’s Gadgets for Gam/rs.

Flash Point

Interactive Magic's gritty World War III
combat game jumps aboard the
action/strategy bandwagon 71

Need for Speed:
High Stakes

Fender-bending, gear-grind-
ing, tire-shredding racing
mayhem the way God
intended it 73

GAMER’S EDGE

Civilization: Call to Power

Whether you're a peacenik shooting
for the stars or a warlord looking to
grind your enemies under the heel of
your boot, Teriy Coleman and Johnny
Wilson have the info you'll need to put
your society on top.

Heroes of Might & Magic III

Elliott Chin shares the strategies on
towns, heroes, and combat lhal have
made him a beastmaster to be feared.

CG Tips

X-WING ALLIANCE, MADDEN 99,
EVERQUEST, Army men 2, and morel

DEPARTMENTS

Johnny Wilson Violence, games, CGW, and ratings 21

Denny Atkin Are flight sims dead? 26

Letters Email missives and submissives 31

On the CG-ROM Demos, tools, and goodies on CD 41

Reviews Introduction 119

Top 100 Readers rate the top games 188

Greenspeak 50.000 years of gaming goodness 190

Hardware News 97

• Micron laptop gets
3D support

• When tchotchkes go bad

Loyd Case

Speed Up Your PC 98

Killer Rigs 108

Voodoo^ Ill

AMD K6-III 114

Interact Force FX 116

ThrustMaster

Fusion USB Gamepad ..116

Game Commander 116

REVIEWS

Redline 123

Requiem; Avenging Angel ..127

ADVENTURE/RPG

EverQuest 130

Lands of Lore III 133

SIMULATIONS/SPACE

X-Wing Alliance 134

Rghter Squadron 137

X-Wing Alliance 134

Rghter Squadron 137

High Heat 2000

High Heat Baseball 2000 ..140

Triple Play 2000 141

Civilization: Call to Power..145

Heroes III 148

Jane's Fleet Command ....152

Roller Coaster Tycoon 159

Warzone 2100 162

Battleground:

Chickamauga 162

Machines 165

Smolensk to Moscow 165

^Action Game
i of the Year
Runner-Up

Strategy Game
of the Year
Runner-Up

Game of the
Year Runner-Up

\pC Gamer

[^GAMER

EDITORS’

Inc. BatUezonc Is a trademark of Atari Intoraative
: are the properties of their respective owners.

Activision Is a registered tradema^ of ActMsIon, Inc. 6 1998, 199
a Hastiro company. All rights reserved. AH other trademarks and :

r H I

BS29 /

ffijil

AdiViuoH

.iHiaa

Command ^ extensl^^ange of vehicles
in specialized missions including night,
sniper, infiltration and paradrop combat,
plus fast-paced out-of-tank warfare.

Be prepared to aiter'your plaTi of attack
as intelligent A.I. learns as it racks up
kills. Risk it all in highly-evolved Instant
Action and Instant Strategy modes.

Coordinate full-scale atScks as morphing
3-D units, destructible terrain, and
incredible explosion and weapon effects
intensify the killer gameplay.

Seq[uel to tlie

TTi gTil j Acclaimed. Awaxd. "Wiimiag BaseTjall Game

1998 Game of the Year, from "Gamersvoice/PeifectGame" Website

1998 Baseball Game of the Year WarZone.Cotri
1998 Best Al in a Sports game WarZone.Com
1998 Best Hands-On Gameplay in a Sports Game WarZone.Com
1998 Top 10 Sports Games Spoils Gaming I\)etwoii< (only baseball game in Top 1 0)
1998Top 10 Sports Games. PC Sports Games

'Top-xiotcli axcad.e jplaj; tlie best baseball game All' -pc G amer

TruPlay™ Al guarantees true-lo-life base ainning, fielding, and managing
•rao polygonal players in a 3D environment ensures authentic Major League’’-' gameplay
Broadcast-style camera arigles and VCR features allow you to replay tiie action from any angle*

.all tlie intiicacies of a real game, from line d.xives to
tlie suicide squeeze and tlie double switch'.’- Family pc

Blazing fast gameplay and all the action of a highlight reel
Pro-style interface that brings you into the game
• Head-to-Head Multi-plaYer action via LAM. modem, or Internet'

'This game feels like baseball...gxeat gameplay, arid supex Al.
No otlrex game does these things.”- pc S/ jorts Games

New Major League Baseball® team rosters, 1999 MLBPA player rosters and 1 998 season stats
Career Mode >■ 'dudes a realistic aging cuive, player retirement and new rool<ie prospects*

: •• Mult!-playertrades-..i'idManage-onlymode'i:ocontrot[<eyaspectsofgameplay*

*PC version only

baseliall game,

Trip Hawkins, President 3D0

PisySiailD

www.majorleaguebaseball.com

1999 The 9D0 Company. All RIgliis Ruseiviiil. Hlyli Heal Basehall. TiuPlay. 3D0 anil Iheii lesiicciivE loyos, aie liailaniarks snil/ai service marks of Die 3D0 Coinpany in ihe
U.S. anil Qihei connines. V'MLBM Official Licensee - Major League Baseball Players Associaiion. Majut Leayue Baseball liaiieirarks siiiJ copyiiyliis are lised wiili poiRiissioii
of Major League Baseball Prapeiiies, Inc. 30l> liiieraciive. Inc. is © 1938. Die 3Dlx Inuiaciive liKjO is D legisleietl liadeiraik ul 3Dli Inieracihre. Inc. In the USA and oilier
cauiiiries. All liyhis reserved. AMO. the AMD logo. K6. 30Nowl end comblnaiions iheicol. arc iiarieitiaiks ul Advanotd Micro Devices, Inc. PlaySiaiion and the PlayStation
logos are leglsieicd iiadeiiiaiks at Sony Coinpuiei Entenaninieni Inc. All other trademarks belong to their lespeciive ownen fA* For mote details, visil wwwhigliheai.com

www.higliheai.carri

GET READY
TO COMMAND
THE FUTURE !

'M EXCITiniG NEW/ '

%: STRATEGIES AND UNITS
Jump Jet Infantry Hauer

Ho’

Tanks, Tunneling ARC’!

, Hunter Seekers, Laser
Fences, Mechanized Battle
Units, Firestorm Defense
and many more!

FIGHT DN DYNAMIC
BATTLEFIELDS
Wlhere nature itself
prouides tactical
opportunities - destroyable
and deformable terrain,
forest fires, treacherous
ice fields, flying
shock waues ana
! crashing debris!

NEW! INTERNET TECHNOLDGY
I AND MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT
Play for free* on the

definitiue Internet

battleground — Wfestuuood
Online, where connectiuity
is now blended into the ,

V:'

PiBiira

CHAMPION
IS BACK.”

Computer Gaming World

ORIGINAL COMMAND & CONQUER

^^SBSII

n^^M^obS

wIBB

HBI

gillgMSHi

liY®^

Key features

* Includes all 22 cars, 16 circuits and official data
from the 1998 Formula One World Championship
Season.

Fantastic graphics and speed. Plus 3D card and
Force Feedback support.

Accurate simulation and fun-to-play arcade
modes.

20+ camera angles and ability to create your
own new camera positions.

OFFICIAL

fmu

KJkctntc

Survival of the fastest. Out Now.

FOR*

• Multiplayer support for up to 12 players.

• Informative helicopter fly-over of each circuit.

wvvw.eidos.com

Go to #153 @ www.computergaming.com/infollnk

IBlo.

The German supply train approaehes. Ynu've secured the charges...

Ynur team is ready, cnncealed amnngst the trees nn the nther side
at the river. Perfect... But only if you detonate the charges at the right
second... A few mnments hesitatinn and ynur team will be tern to pieces
by the heavy machinegons on the guard wagon!

Up tv 40 different ehereeters to cheese treoi * Metien Gaptered 30 Characters*

First & Third person perspective * Univue and sinipie contrni of np to tour saidiers*

'State of the art "Insanity eniinc produces unrivalled terrain B full 30 accellcrator support'
Over 20 niisslans across the graphieally varied terrain of Norway, Germany, B Italy*

tmciilB misslonG al alghl la Iha log and raio!

^ ' ill Go to #242 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

sub.siciiary or rukeS-itpfnitiive, All rijilus reserved t'ormore inRarmalioncuniyei us ill WWW. Taluiisofi.

k M 1 1 ■ I ■ 1

1 1 1 1 4 ■ 1 1 1

1 1 1 r

j I 1 T 1

i 1 • iTD

Violence and Gaming

Is Our Hobby Prone to Self-Inflicted Wounds?

I 've always believed that there is a healthy,
cathartic side to violent games. I've always
hoped that they would stave off violence
in real life rather than contribute to it. I
still believe that, in general, they help
rather than hurt. But I have to admit feel-
ing a little shaken by the horrors of late April.

I've been feeling grief for both the victims
and the survivors at Columbine High School,
that listlessness and numbness that keeps you
from being able to concentrate as you should.
The grief was exacerbated when I received my
subscriber copy of Computer Gaming World. I
had forgotten that we had shown Max Payne
firing down a corridor. It was a subway corri-
dor, and Max is an undercover DEA agent firing
at perpetrators, as opposed to innocent stu-
dents, but the scene looked shockingly familiar.
As the subscribers began to receive their
copies, many began to suspect that we had
cynically created the cover to gain notoriety or
shock value from the horrors that the people in
Colorado had experienced. Several subscribers
admitted being fans of first-person shooters,
but felt shocked and disturbed by the image.

If the cover made you feel uncomfortable
because it seemed related to the shooting, I
apologize. It was simply a bizarre coincidence.
We would never have designed a cover based
on such a tragedy. These covers were printed
and in the mail prior to the shooting in
Colorado. Of course, that isn't the real issue.

The real issue is why a national publication
would depict a violent act on the cover when,
as the analysts have suggested in the wake of
the tragedy, computer and video games may be

a large part of the problem. The simple answer
is that we don't believe that computer and
video games are a large part of the problem.
We believe that there is a positive, cathartic
effect in simulated violence. Violence in com-
puter games is not intended to encourage the
slaughter of unarmed innocents. Computer
games are a temporary escape from real life,
not tutorials for a tragic end to life. We in no
way condone the actions of disturbed minds
unable to make such a distinction.

Violence is used in story-telling media to

(parental abdication of responsibility, easy
access to weapons, social stigma, lack of unify-
ing moral frameworks, high student-teacher
ratio, lack of school security, and so on), violent
media can play a role in such tragedies.

Merely because some of us can suspend
our disbelief and recognize the unreal nature
of computer game violence doesn't mean
that everyone is capable of making that dis-
tinction between reality and imagination.
Young minds and disturbed minds are some-
times not capable of filtering the exaggera-

In film, books, comics, and music,

violence is used as graphic
hyperbole to raise the stakes and
make us pay attention.

reflect those dangerous, heroic situations
where someone we care about manages to
restore order out of chaos, redress wrong, and
give us a sense of hope. In film, books, comics,
and music, violence is used as graphic hyper-
bole to raise the stakes and make us pay atten-
tion. Violence tends to work in media because
it is something we don't all experience, some-
thing far enough out of the ordinary that we
can suspend our disbelief.

This does not mean that we whitewash the
fact that violent media is a "part" of the prob-
lem. Along with thousands of other causes

Weak Ratings

T he games industry
needs to improve the

way we rate games. The RSAC
system, below, is a better
approach because it describes
the content in the game — but
it's used in less than 5 percent of
new games. Most games are
rated by the ESRB (Entertain-
ment Software Ratings Board),
which doesn't offer any
content description
on the front of /

the box. Computer games rat-
ings need to give consumers
more information at a glance.

We propose a three-tiered
system, perhaps color-coded in
green, yellow, and red, which
identifies games for a General
audience, Parental Guidance, or
Restricted. Unfortunately, the
Motion Picture Association of
America won't allow the
games industry to
\ use G, PG, and R
\ ratings, so / '
Sffl. I we'tihaveto f
^^3 I use new let- I

j ters that iden- \ ' j

y tify the three \ : I
categories. N.

Some may suggest that this
system is like the ESRB system
(below), but it is not, The ESRB
system uses an M for "Mature,"
which puts a positive spin on
content that should be consid-
ered "Restricted." Ratings
should not imply that the more
extreme games are more
"grown-up" and "sophistlcat-
ed" than games
designed for
\ everyone.

tion from the reality. For this reason,
Computer Gaming World advocated con-
tent labeling (clear, specific, and highly visi-
ble on the front of the box) for all games
since 1990. We recognize the responsibility
of publishers and creators to inform their
customers about the contents of their prod-
ucts. We believe this protects freedom of
speech and expression in the long run. It also
gives parents a chance to monitor what their
impressionable children are playing, but does
not guarantee that they will do so.

Some readers will rightly point out that the
games are rated. Yet, I believe that the current
ratings are inadequate. Age-related terms like
"Teen" and "Mature" do not inform consumers
about what is in the box that makes these
games for older kids or adults. Descriptions on
the back of the box do little to describe the
extent of the violence or adult language. Even
with the RSAC rating system's thermometer
representing the degrees of violence and lan-
guage, the descriptions are often printed in
miniscule type. Parents need to be able to tell
at a glance what is in the products.

Let's change the ratings systems. It's time for
everyone in our industry to come together and
agree on one universal set of icons and
descriptions. Let's help people make informed
decisions, and let's take responsibility as an
industry rather than having lawmakers and
reactive citizens impose restrictions on us.

I'll be waiting with great curiosity, and not a
little consternation, as events unfold.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

TOM

Blood of the Damned

4-ierra

w w w . s i e r r a vS t u d i i) s . c o m Go to #269 © www.computergamlng.com/lnfoUnk

©•1999 Sierra’On-Lire, Inc. All Rights ffeserved. Sierra, Sierra Studios, Gabriel Knight, and Biood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, are trademarks of Sierra On-Line, In

RISK YOUR SOUL.

MARCH 17. 1244. MONTSEGUR
A mysterious treasure is smuggled out of the
Cathar fortress of Montsegur. Two days later
the remaining “heretics” are slaughtered by
the crusaders of Pope Innocent III.

juisieT, 1885 ... st. Mary magdalene's

The ancient village receives a new parish priest,
Berenger Sauniere. While renovating the abbey, he
makes an unsettling discovery in a hollow column.
Soon after, Sauniere has wealth enough to refurbish
the entire village.

AUGUST 2. 1940. PAS DU LOUP
Adolf Hitler dispatches a small
division of soldiers and archaeologists
to search for a "treasure of immense
wealth" said to be hidden within the
valley. The project is soon abandoned.

JANUARY 22, 1922. VILLA BETI lANIA
After hearing his final confession, a neighboring
priest rushes from Sauniere’s deathbed, refusing
to administer last rites. Never sharing what
' he was said to have lived the rest

Solve a true, historical mystery within
a surreal, captivating story line.

Control your point of view using
unlimited camera movement.

THE BIG MAN TO “BRINGETH

USES SINNERS TG SLAY

SNEAK, IMPALE, CHARM AND

OTHER SCUM BUT IT TAKES

COPS, DWELLERS, BEHEMOTHS, PRIESTS, OOONCERS, WAITRESSES.
PROSTITOTES, SOB-GIRLS, BONDAGE DANCERS, GIGOLOS, DEMONS,
CHOTS, HIGH PRIESTS, WELDERS, NDCLEAR WORHERS, MEDICS,
TECHNOCRATS, BARTENDERS, GON COMMANDERS, DWARFS, PIMPS,
LICHERS, RIOT COPS, MONSTERS AND ANIMALS

FOR THE SRHE OF 0000, VOU GET TO OEGORIE

THE SCUM OFTHE EHRTH^

UIITH 60 SIN-FIILEO CHOICES

FOR MHTURE
EHCE5 OniV

I is » trademarK of Interplay Productions,
opyrigtils are property of their respective owners.
tw.computergamtng.coiTi/infolink

oMsObsi

Sims Are Dead

But Worry Not, Fearless Readers —
It's Just a Product Cycle

Y ou have a great idea for a flight sim,
one set to be the most realistic and
entertaining air combat experience in
years. You've scripted an adventure
game with twists that bring readers in
as deep as a Stephen King novel, and
dialogue rivaling that of John Irving. They're
efforts that would get great reviews and make
the most jaded gamers happy. The only prob-
lem is, you’ll never get the funding to make
them. The big publishers aren't interested.

At least, that's what discussions with
numerous developers at the 1999 Game
Developers Conference indicate. Game pub-
lishing has turned into a buyer's market,
thanks to all the consolidation in the enter-
tainment software market. There are so few
companies with the resources to get a prod-
uct onto today's crowded store shelves that
they can dictate strict terms and light budgets
to today's game developers. They want to

to produce — far more so than the typical
wargame. Add the cost of getting a product to
store shelves, and you have genres that not
many startups can afford to risk supporting.

Good Times, Bad Times

A shift away from sims and adventure
games is already evident. EA's Jane's line will
be down from three teams to a single internal
development group after A-1 0 WARTHOG
ships. Dynamix has shoved the ambitious
ACES OF THE PACIFIC 2 in the closet and can-
celled X-FIGHTERS, choosing instead to do the
more incremental DESERT FIGHTERS title.
Activision, bitten by FIGHTER SQUADRON hit-
ting a market already saturated with WWII
sims, isn't likely to revisit the genre. And if
you heard buzz on the Internet about a huge
company developing a hot new sim using a
breakaway team from SU-27 FLANKER, stop
anticipating. That project has been cancelled.

I f<

It's hard to do the flight-sim equiv-
alent of an indie film when they
require Independence Day budgets.

fund only the games that promise huge
returns, or that can be developed on a shoe-
string and shoveled at the Wal-Mart crowd.

Big Budgets

The "big hit” mindset is why flight sims
and adventure games are in danger. With rare
exceptions, a successful sim sells about
150,000 copies. That's enough to make a nice
little profit, but it's a drop in the bucket when
compared to the sales of a game like UNREAL,
STARCRAFT, or NBA LIVE 99. So when it comes
time to fund the next round of projects, the
bean counters approve the shooters, real-time
strategy, and sports games over the sims and
adventures. After all. their job is to make as
much money for the company as possible.

Fine, you say. let the big guys do sports
and and mass-carnage games. Surely some
smaller companies will fill the sim niche,
right? Look at wargames. Once a genre sup-
ported by the major players, it’s now backed
by smaller companies such as TalonSoft; the
developers aren't driving Ferraris, but they
pay the bills while doing something they love.

The problem is that sims and adventure
games are among the most expensive games

Is it time to get depressed and start hon-
ing your 3D shooter skills? Nope. The industry
has always been cyclical. Every company is
sure its shooter or sports title will be the next
half-million seller. But for every HALF-LIFE,
there are a dozen TRESPASSERS. And as the
''mainstreaming'' trend widens, the potential
for failure of these genres will increase, as the
shelves fill with "me too" products.

You won't see many flight sims or adven-
ture games in the year 2000. But once dozens
of other kinds of products fail, companies will
look for new ways to get back on top. They'll
dig out some sim designs and adventure sto-
ries and we'll be back in business. In the
meantime, there'll be plenty of HALF-LIFE and
ALPHA CENTAURI knockoffs to play.

You can help. Write the companies (on
paper, not via email) and tell them what kinds
of games you want. Get your friends to do the
same. A few thousand requests for a good
Pacific air war sim will get noticed. CSU

Denny really wrote this column to get
everyone in a sour mood so they'd stop laugh-
ing at Jeff Green's inane ramblings. Chide him
at denny_atkin@zd.com.

CGMRU’TEH

GAMING

WORi-P

Lee Uniacke

Editorial Director Johrny Wilson
Editor-in-Chief George Jones

Editor Ken Brown

Features Editor Denny Atkin (Simulations)

Technical Director and Lead Saxophonist Dave Salvator
Senior Editors Terry Coleman (Previews. Wargames, Gamer’s Edge),
Jeff Green (Adventure/RPG, Sports, Read.Me; Chief Kvetch Officer)
Associate Editor Robert Coffey (Action, Strategy)

CG-ROM Editor Jack Rodrigues

Assistant Editors Jesse Hiatt (CG-ROM), Thierry Nguyen (Previews)

Editorial Assistant Tom Price

Contributing Editors Charles Ardai (Inletaclive Rctlon),

Loyd Case (Hardware)

Founder Russell Sipe

Art Director Steven Wanczyk

Production Director Carlos Lugo
Production Manager Martin Walthall

Electronic Prepress Group
Manager Michele Kellogg
Assistant Manager Tamara Gargus
Technician Roger Drake

Address questions and feedback to:

CGW Editorial, 135 Main St., frith Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.
Or you may contact us via:

CGWIetters@ 2 d.com

Phone: (415)357-4900

Editorial Fax: (415) 357-4977

Web site; www.computergaming.cotn

Associate Publisher Sutanne Reider (41 5) 357-491 5
East Coast Sales Manager Laura Pitaniello (212) 503-4851
East Coast Sales Assistant Jennifer Lopes (212) 503-3926
Southwest Sales Manager Pat Walsh (949) 851-2556
Southwest Sales Assistant Sandy Marciniak (949) 352-5914
San Francisco/Midwest Sales Manager
MarciYamaguchi (415)357-4944
Silicon Valley/Northwest Sales Manager
Dru Montgomery (41 5) 357-4925
Senior Marketing Manager Sat Sharma (415) 357-4935
National Account Rep Joann Casey (41S) 357-4920
Advertising Coordinator Leslie Ventimiglia (41 5) 357-4930
Executive Assistant Linda Fan (415) 357-5425
Account Representative Tallie Fishburne (415) 357-5226

Address inquiries to CGIV Advertising, 135 Main St., 14lh Floor, San
Francisco, CA 94105; or call (415) 357-5398, fax (415) 357-4999,

Vice President Dale Strang
Director of Business Cathy Bendoff

For subscription service questions, address changes or ordering
information, call (303) 665-8930 within the U.S. and Canada or write
cgw8neodara.com. All other countries call (303) 604-7445 or write to Computer
Gaming World, P.O. Box 57167, Boulder, CO 80322-7167. The one year (12 issue)
subsniption rate is 527.94 in the U.S,, and 543,94 outside the U.l; the rate for
one year (12 issue) subscriptions wiih the monthly CD-ROM is 542.94 in the Ui,
and 553.94 outside the U.S. Checks must be made payable in U.S. currency only
to Computer Gaming World.

Back issues can be purchased for 58 in the U.S and 510 outside the U.S. (CD-ROM ver-
sion not availabte). Prepayment is necessary. Checks must be made payable in U.S cur-
rency only to Computer Gaming World. Mail your request to Bade Issucfi ZD, Inc, RO.
Box 53131. Boulder, CO 80322-3131.

We periochcally make Use of OUT custenters avadabie to mailers of goods and seiMces

lhai may intsesi you. If you do not wish to receive such mailings please write to us
and Indude a copy of your mailing IMiel.

lik. COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

v.computergaming.c

0-60 (off a skyscraper)? Yes.

Racers, sfart your mayhem. Grab hold of one of 10 wild vehicles and race through the
windy streets of Chicago, where you'll have to deal with tough opponents, alleyways,
drawbridges, newspaper racks, tunnels, and the police. Throw in five race modes and
over 50 city landmarks, and there are plenty of sights to see. Just don't drive like a tourist.

See more action at

www.microsofr.com/games/midfown

I Gaming

ZOKI-E

. 1 999 Microsoft CorpOfQlion All tights resiTved Microsoft is a registarecf tradomark of
Microsoft Corporolton. VolkswogBii, the Volkswogtsii fogo. und Beetle ore copyright
. I 999 VolkswogiTi of Amciica, Inc Ttcidomurks, design polents and copyrights ore used
with iha upprovol of llio owimr.

Microsoft

nis EAFlTrl B MOVimi AT S3, -/US MPH.
rOFI slOMS, TFIArS JUST NOT FAST EmUOFt.

Vi«

"A very true-to-iife physics model and all of the
elements you would find in an AMA event."

' ■ 1 - PC Gamer

"A total focus on realism...
race fans had better keep their eyes on this
’.r Next Generation Online

High-performance Racing Simulation

State-Of-The-Art
Realistic Physics Model

Exclusively Licensed by the
American Motorcyclist Association

Officially Licensed AMA Tracks

Officially Licensed
Superbike Manufacturers

Worldwide Multiplayer internet
Racing via Motorsims Racing Network^*^

Race Against up to 30
Computer-Generated Riders
with Stand-Alone PC Play

Take your adrenal glands headlong Into the white-knuckle
world of competitive racing. Get personal with the asphalt
at over 160 mph. Experience a day of AMA Superbike racing
down to the smallest detail. The physics are real. The chassis
tuning and engine setup are real. The feedback from your
bike is real. The skills you need to win are real.

This is AMA Superbike. This is as real as it gets.

"Aims to take the superbike racing
scene to a new ievel."

. —Games.net

IVI o tNd r m s

WWW.MOTOnSIMS.COM

Go to #188 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

Codes of fVie S*^c>r5 Coast

Legends of treasures lost and monsters to be defeated abound in the region. Almost all have
at least some basis in truth. Are you up to the task? Will you return with even more fame than
you accumulated in your previous travels? Or will you journey off; never to be heard from
again-the source of your own legend, in turn...?

EMAIL US AT CGWLETTERS@ZD.COM

Computer Gaming and Real Violence

T he June cover is a very unfortunate coin-
cidence. With the Littleton, Colorado, tragedy
very fresh in all of our minds, the image of a
ruthless gunman in a black coat in what
appears to be a public hallway can only serve
to be an unpleasant and painful reminder to
many, including myself. The caption, "Playing G.O.D.," only
makes it harder to look at. I know what G.O.D. means and
you know what it means {Gathering of Developers), but non-
game players probably will not, nor
will they care. 1 respect and admire
your editorial staff, and enjoy your
publication very much. I feel that
you show respect for your audi-
ence, and demonstrate consistent-
ly good editorial judgment.

In the wake of the Littleton,

Colorado, tragedy that claimed the lives
of IS people, including the two gun-
men, it is eerie that your magazine's
cover depicts the upcoming game
from G.O.D. with a young-looking
character firing off rounds towards the read-
er. Now I know that neither your magazine nor
the G.O.D. developers could've possibly foreseen
the tragedy at Littleton, but what I would like to
make a point about is the renewed attack on our
hobby by those who think the games we play
push kids to violence. It is no secret that some of
these games are brutai, with shooting, blood, and
gore as the order of the day. I am 31 years old,
and I admit to being a first-person-shooter
addict, but somewhere along the line in my
upbringing, my parents taught me the difference
between right and wrong. I fear that this is sorely
lacking in today's society. We play these games as
a matter of escape from reality, to perhaps relieve
stress or take on the persona of someone we
know we'll never end up being. As parents,
friends, and peers, we must continue to remind
our children and each other that these, after all,
are just games.. ..and not blueprints to test the
boundaries of reality.

Rick Perry
Via the Internet

I have been reading your magazine for
several years now, and it is with a very heavy
heart that ! ask you to cancel my subscription.

The latest issue of your magazine offended me
and my family greatly. My seven-year-old son
asked me: "What does this mean... 'Playing
G.O.D.'?... Why are you reading a magazine that

makes fun of
God?" Also, when I
flipped through the
pages of this issue,
it amazed me how
graphic the violent
images have gotten. I
wonder if the boys in

Colorado read your magazine and played the hor-
rible games that the computer industry is now
publishing. It amazed me when one of your
reviewers a couple of issues back said that he
was giving a game a lower rating because it was
not graphic enough in its portrayal of violence
(not enough giblet factor I believe was the way
he put it). A few pages into your latest issue, an
ad read... "Why not kill your friends for $50,000?
You can always buy new ones." It is this type of
insensitivity that will lead many kids to copy the
acts of the ones in Colorado. I hope that someone
in your industry will help do something to
address the violence issue before more kids suffer
the same fate as those in Littleton.

John Dyer
Via the Internet

We received many letters about our June cover in
light of the tragedy in Colorado. Needless to say.
we were shocked and horrified, like the rest of the
world, by those events, and sincerely apologize to
anyone who perceived a resemblance between
our cover and that tragedy. For what it's worth,
readers should know that the image depicts a fed-
eral agent, firing a gun in a New York City sub-
way. The cover was created and sent to our print-
er weeks before the events in Littleton, and it was
mailed to subscribers on April 19— one day before

While I know that magazine preparation times are long,
and this issue went to press many weeks, if not months,
before the events of last week, it may be time for the gam-
ing industry as a whole to look pretty hard in the mirror of
public opinion and, at the very least, leave these types of
images to the inside of products (be they magazines or box
art; many of the ads, over which you have no control, are as
unpleasant). In no way do I condemn you, other magazines,
game developers and publishers, or the gaming public. The
games did not cause this tragedy, any more than the guns
killed those people. Twisted minds did. If the gaming
industry wants to avoid increased scrutiny, regulation,
and censorship, however, a little self-restraint may be
in order. The time, in my opinion, is now.

Brian Fitzpatrick
Via the Internet

the shooting. Despite that, we apologize to any-
one who was offended by the image. Please see
Johnny Wilson's editorial this month for more on
the issue of violence in computer gaming.

HEROES III Missing Page Debacle
I just got the June issue of CGW. After
digesting the latest from Loyd Case, I headed for
the StrategyAVargames review section and found
a page missing. The HEROES OF MIGHT & MAGIC
III review starts on page 1 70, according to the
index, but page 170 has an ad for GameSpot on
it — It would be fair to say that this is a collec-
tor's edition of your magazine.

Gregory Wells
Via the Internet

Yes! It was the special Collector's Edition, worth
lots and lots ofmoneyl Tell your friends. Actually,
this was a mistake made by the people who print
our magazine. You can imagine how thrilled we
were. In any event, the full review appears in this
issue. We apologize for the inconvenience, and
we can assure you that kind this mistake of hap-
pen again never will.

www.computergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » J U LY 1 999

Don't deplete your afterburners
cruising around. You'll need
them when someone lock.s on a
homer, or wlien you're trying
to catch that guy in front of
you. Keep it at 50% or more for
tliat burst when you Rl’.ALLY
need it.

burns, Bq,

Use najjalm to herd players into
traps. Players have a tendency to
back off from napalm bursts (with
good reason). Herd them into a
wall or corner and launch a frag
missile into the wail next to them.
The result is quick death for your
opponent.

ACTUAL AUTOMAP - POLARIS

ADDITIONAL

PRIZE Sponsors
Include:

.,5 0unboy5p„,

l!^u Are Invifted!

Caesars Palace'”. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Over $1 00,000 in cash and prizes. M

O Q

UVs

|b g.'g

II I

TJ o

2. 5 3

— CD T3
3 «a o

3 - Q, -■

w' 3 o' !
S' «> 3 :

•s s ^ .

■s I- - ■

O 3* Z

g S «_
i fl) c
3 3 -e
ro _ ro

2. S’

, ST -
o >0

(D *0

I- J 'O
— *0
I o

i'si

= “ ?
*0 » 3
11) 3

3 2 (U

s i-i

D to c

1 s

<A> ^

^05

(The first 500 people to sign-in at the championship that
have pre-registered on-line, will receive a h'ee gift.)

r n
> >
in n
. in
$ >

P in
>

in TJ

■* >

^ n

> -tft

M
; □
z □

S °

UJ n

□

(/)

DESCEIMT^

$5D,aaa championship

Back fx 1995, Dksckntsi"i tiikstam)ar]d for multi fcaykr gaming. It was tiik first gamk of it's kino to allow morf

THAN 4 PLAYKRS TO HAriT.F ONUNK IN 360° 3D OKATHMATCIIES, CONTINUING TIIK TRAOITION. DkSCF.NT 3’S MULTIPLAYER
ACTION TAKES THK FXl'KKIKNCE TO A NEW LEVEL. FOR THE LAUNCH OF DESCENT 3, M'E ARE LOOKING FOR 'I'lIE WORLD'S BEST

Descent imlot. Wtth a ghanu prize of $50,000 cash and The Ultim.ate Gaming PC.' from Gateway!”.

Da You think You Have What It Takes?

For .more dictaiil;!) iNKOR\L\noN ano 'iu rixusieu

visit WWW.INTERPLAY.CDM/DESCENT3/FTaUR.HTML

(he aU-In-o*'*
’'’We unleashes

Use Vauss as much as possible in outdoor battles so you can
keep a good distance from your opponent. Use Napalm indoors
whenever possible and use super lasers against opponents in
smali tunnels since the lasers are harder to avoid.

sa WHAT IF YOU
KILL YOUR FRIENDS

www.outhagic.com

WITH $5D,aDa,

YDU CAN BUY SOME NEW ONES.

iBflt, he. M pWiti resepvtd. Qutpsga, ttw Outrage logo and

are trademarkt ol OotPtga Eatartatamant, he. Descant, hterptaK the
in, the hntnm logo, 'Vy Binars. For Gamert.’' are trademarks ol htariitay
V copyrlgliti and tradamarts are the property at their respacilve owDen.

Go to #067 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

To ITND out HOW YOU C;.\N WIN $5(1,000 DESCEND NOW TO

www.intei-pIay.com/descent3/ftour.htmI

ZIFF-DAVtS INC

Chairman and CEO Eric Hippeau

Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Timothy O'Brien

Chief Internet Strategist Claude R Sheer

Presidents

ZD Market Intelligence Bob Brown

ZD Events Jason Chudnofsky

ZD Brand and Market Services Terri Holbrooke

ZD Publishing Michael S. Perils

ZD Internet Productions Dan Rosensweig

ZD Education William Rosenthal

ZD Television LanyW.Wangberg

Executive Vice President, International Aymar de Lencquesaing

Senior Vice Presidents

Rayna Brown (Human Resources]

J. Malcolm Morris {General Counsel and Secretary)

Daryl R. Otte (Planning and Development)

Charlotte Rush (Communications)

Vice Presidents

Marylou Berk (Corporate Real Estate and Facilities)

Steve Gladyszewski (Information Services)

Mark Moyer (Controller)

Tracy Nadi (Human Resources, Operations)

Thomas L. Wright (Treasurer)

Corporate Sales

Joe Gillespie (Executive Vice President)

Michael Petkowski (Vice President, Marketing)

Jeff Bruce (Executive Director)

Scott Murphy (Executive Direnor)

Rita Burke (Managing Director)

ZD Brand and Market Services

Terri Holbrooke (President)

Charlotte Rush (Senior Vice President, Communications)

EldaVale (Vice President, Corporate Research)

Barbara Lyon (Vice President, Marketing Communications)

■IjlMIHIIDI.

President Mike Pedis

Executive Vice Presidents Jack Dolce, Al DiGuido, Thomas
McGrade, Michael J. Miller, Jim Spanfeller

Senior Vice President Nancy Newman

Vice Presidents John Dodge, Roger Herrmann, Peter Hongo,
Eric Lundquist, Bill Machrone, Jim Manning, Charles Mast, Paul
Somerson, Dale Strang, Mark Van Name

Director, Benchmark Operations Eric Hale

Director, ZD Labs Lauren Black

Director, ZD Testing and Analysis Group Bill Catchings

Director of Public Relations GlynnisWoolridge

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD (ISSN 0744-6667) is published
monthly by Ziff-Davis. Copyright © 1999 Ziff-Davis. All Rights
Reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in
any fomi without permission. If you want to quote from an article,
write to Chantal Tucker, One Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-
5802. or fax 212-503-5420.

^^t;ZIFF-DAVIS

uSOFTRANK
company

Audit Bureau of

Computer Gaming World is

01 aHiliot.

thIDC.

For reprints, please call
Ziff-Davis reprints at
(800) 825-4237.

Backed Up With Excitement

I just can't wait any longer for the

Flushor Gaming Seat! I saw the ad in your April
issue and seconds later I was purchasing that
baby via the Internet. Now I'm waiting for it to
arrive. It'll be my throne. Something disturbs my
rest, though. I've been wondering. ..what
if.„you know... when the Flushor is full of.. .you
know„.er.,.what happens if then you jump into
the water in QUAKE 2??? Is there any septic
valve or something? Please ask Mr. Loyd Case
for an answer to this technical question. We all
know he's the hardware guru — he'll be the
right guy for it. Thank you.

Zhark
Via the Internet

Loyd Case replies: We just learned of some
exciting new accessories for the Flasher! Check
these out:

DirectIV—Now you don't need to eat,
either. Just have the IV refilled periodically
and you can keep gaming forever.

Contains all the nutrients need-
ed, plus the added boost of a
steady dose of caffeine.

Flushor Eyeball

Myster—Do your
eyes get tired or dry
from looking at the
computer all day? The
Flushor Eyeball Myster
(FLEM) wilt periodically
spray your eyes with a neu-
tral saline solution.

Smarty Pants of the Month

I Just read the "Good, the Bad, and the
Ugly" section of the June 99 issue, where you
said that the Star Wars Episode I release was a
great "way to end the millennium." Technically,
the millennium is not ending this year. The
modern calendar begins with the year 1 A.D.
There's no year 0 A.D. Hence the next millenni-
um starts with the year 2001 , not 2000. So
technically, we still have one more year of the
present millennium to go. I have way too much
time on my hands. Bite me.

Hans Ounawan

Actually, Hans, we put that mistake in on pur-
pose, as a science lesson to our readers.
Congratulations on finding it. For your efforts
you win a free subscription beginning at the
turn of the millenium. Way to go, smart guy.

Jeff Green or Stock Reports:
Which Is More Boring?

The flame letter that Jeff Green received
in your June issue was totally absurd. 1 want to
read about company stock performance about
as much as I want to play the new DEER IN THE

HEADLIGHTS HUNTER or BABY HARP SEAL
HUNTER games that are sure to come to a Wal-
Mart near you soon, Jeff deserves a big raise
and a cable modem for his efforts.

Jim Fox
Via the Internet

Jeff Green responds: Hi Dad! Thanks for writing in.

Every month there is something that
drives me to get to the end of each wonderful
issue of CGW, and that is the very last page!
That page contains the words of the Socrates
of gamers. Ron, if you think this page is boring,
that is because you don't "get it." If you want
stock quotes use your Internet access. There
would be no good in posting stock quotes in a
magazine written well ahead of time. The
words that Jeff speaks come from the heart of
a gamer wise beyond his time. Greenspeak is
informative, intellectual, and cracks me up
every month! . . . CGIV saves the best for last.

Give me my Greenspeak!

Chris Staas
Via the Internet

Jeff responds: Hi Mom!
Thanks for writing in.

would first like
to respond to Ron

Pierce's letter in the
June issue. The back
page is one of the
most interesting and fun
pages to read in the entire
magazine, and it's a damn
magazine. I often find
myself turning first, not to the table of
contents to see what the features are, not to
the reviews page to see what games are being
reviewed, and not to the gamer's edge section
to find out the way past my latest roadblock,
but to your editorial. Your article never fails to
bring a smile and a chuckle to me. Ron, howev-
er, is wrong or just doesn't get the point. Your
articles do have a point and a great point at
that. They're about being proud to be a gamer,
and loving being a gamer. ... I can always
relate to what you say. Keep up with the amaz-
ing work and that wonderful sense of humor.
Thank you for making me proud to be a gamer.

Vern Bittner
Via the Internet

Jeff responds: Hi Grandma! Thanks for writing.

Dep't. of Corrections

Gene Simmons does not own the rights
to produce a Max Payne movie, as we report-
ed in our June preview of MAX PAYNE, it's stiii
up for grabs if you want it. Mr. Woo.

STARCRAFT: iNSURREaiON, one of the
authorized STARCRAFT expansion packs, is
made by Aztech New Media Corp. of Toronto,
Canada.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

v.computergaming.c

•i

A Jedi Knight must remain focused.
Mastery of the Force requires
that all unnecessary activities be
purged from daily life.

lily irj'MMi ‘Momri’jinaiu JVJ.

pF/^-c

S'. . :i'i^M^m

H^^'“4i^'-- - 5 " ■

Prepare to immerse yourself in the epic adventure that is The Phantom Menace.

As the central character, you will journey to all the stunning locations of
Episode I, where you are destined to play a decisive role in every key event.
All-consuming? Yes. But then, there’s no such thing as a part-time Jedi.

www.lucasarts.com/products/phantommenace

www.starwars.com

PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
3D accelerator hardware required for PC version.

Dragons, Robots, and X-Wings

D rakam: She's beautiful and dangerous, and she's got some serious
moves. What sets her apart from other third-person action heroes
is that her soul mate is a 20-foot-long, fire-breathing dragon.
There's a gigantic world full of stunning scenery for you to explore
with this dynamic duo, but it won't be a dragon-walk in the park. There are plen-
ty of monsters afoot— and in the air— and they're hell-bent on cutting your ad-
venture short. You'll have to complete various side quests and use your head to
get through this level. So fasten your eyeballs, keep your brain in the full upright
position, and get ready for the next step forward in action/adventure gaming,

AddlitionalJuly CD Titles

MECHWARRIOR 3

GfA//?f.'Action/space sim
EXECUTABLE; WmechS

Choose from four different mechs, and let
loose in some instant action missions.

KINGPIN

GfA//?£'Action

EXECUTABLE: Wkingpin

Try out the first level of this controversial

first-person shooter with an attitude.

X-WING ALLIANCE

GflV/?£'Action
EXECUTABLE: Wxwing

Fly a cousin of the Millenium Falcon in a
sample mission.

STARSIEGE

GfiV/?£ Action/space sim
EXECUTABLE: Wstarsiege
Get your feet wet with a couple of single-
player missions from the human campaign.

ROLLER COASTER TYCOON

GfA//i£ Strategy
EXECUTABLE: Wrct

Gf/V/?f; Action/adventure
EXECUTABLE: \\dr3kan

Explore the first level of this exciting third-person
adventure by dragon and on foot.

Video Clips Toolbox

Battlezone II Half-life;

(named; main.avi in the root directory) team Fortress Classic
Starfleet Command

Take over the management of one of four
different amusement parks.

RE-VOLT

GENREiRC Racing
EXECUTABLE: Wrvcgw

Race one of three remote-control cars on
the streets and sidewalks of the suburbs.

MAGIC & MAYHEM

GfA//?£ Real-time strategy
EXECUTABLE: Wmagic

Try a single-player level or limited multi-
player games in this light-hearted RTS.

APACHE HAVOC

Gf/VRf; Helicopter sim
EXECUTABLE: Wapachehavoc
Fly either the U.S. Apache or the Soviet
Havoc in a battle over Cuba.

BEAT DOWN

GfiVfff; strategy

EXECUTABLE: Wbeatdown

Command your own street gang in a ghetto

turf war.

/.computergamiriK.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

.THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE COMPUTER GAMING WORLD Edited by jeff„green®zd.com

1 ^^

HaU-Lib

Experience
HALF-LEFE
Through the
Eyes of the
"Evh Empire"

loosing Force

HALF-LIFE not only garnered a batch of awards
last year but also delivered a message that scientists
can kick marine butt when forced to. But it did have the military
guys doing some cool tricks— like rappeling from skylights— that the
scientist protagonist, Gordon Freeman, couldn't do. Now, thanks to
Gearbox Software, you'll be able to experience the game from the other
side of the battle — as a marine — in the upcoming HALF-LIFE expansion
pack, OPPOSING FORCE.

Fresh from the cancellation of PRAX WAR, the Gearbox team was ready to
handle another military-theme game, and HALF-LIFE developers Valve Software
gave them their blessing to do the expansion pack. Since the expansion game's
time frame is the same as that of the original HALF-LIFE, Gearbox's Randy
Pitchford {lead designer) has been meeting with key Valve personnel like Marc
Laidlaw (writer) and Harry Teasley (design and mod guru) to make sure that
OPPOSING FORCE fits in with the original game.

The expansion will bring in seven new weapons and a whole new race of aliens
taking part in the invasion of Xen. Gordon Freeman's trusty crowbar has been
replaced by a pipe wrench capable of shattering the large, unbreakable crates from
the previous game. Also, much like the original game's snarks, there will be another
alien-turned-weapon: those pesky barnacles that waited up in the ceiling to pull you
or your friend up into their mouths with their tentacles. Now you can carry one
around and use it as a biological grappling hook on both people and walls. As for
new enemies, you will discover another race of aliens, dubbed Race X, who become
involved in the whole Xen/Border Worlds conflict.

The design team is adding such new features as two-way radios for marines;
they're also allowing marines to cut down doors that are in their way and letting
players rappel down from heights. While the Gearbox crew isn't promising new
multiplayer modes, they've tapped their contacts in the 3D industry and come up
with choice designers to prepare some multiplayer maps. A HALF-LIFE death-
match level made by levelord? We can't confirm, but it's not a stretch.

We'll take a closer look at the title at the E3 show, but we're already plenty
excited aboutplaying HALF-LlFE's bad guy. —Jhierry Nguyen

CGW Updates 3D GameGauge

F or a long time, 3D graphics perfor-
mance testing was a black art in this
industry. There were no established
testing procedures that could accurately
measure 3D performance with actual
games and yield reliable data. In 1997
CGiy introduced 3D GameGauge, a collec-
tion of Direct3D and OpenGL
games to be used for
application-based
testing. 3D
GameGauge
measures the
frame-rates a
graphics card gen-
erates in six different
3D games and reports a num-
ber for each one; we used the total number
to compare one card's performance against
another. You've seen 3D GameGauge num-
bers reported in CGkY whenever we review
3D cards and systems, and we've received a
lot of reader mail praising 3D GameGauge
and offering some great ideas for improv-
ing it. Well, a good thing just got better.

So it is with much pomp and circum-
stance that we're proud to announce 3D
GameGauge 2.0, the 1999 version of 3D

GameGauge. It has some pretty cool stuff,
including an increased test resolution of
1 024x76x1 6 and a much better genre
spread, including shooters, sports, flight and
space sims, and driving titles. New games
in 3D GameGauge 2.0 include Valve's HALF-
LIFE, Interplay's DESCENT 3, JANE'S WWII
FiGHTEftS, POWERSLIDE, Epic Games'

UNREAL, EA Sports' MADDEN
99, and Rage's
EXPENDABLE. And
because many read-
ers requested it, this
year's final 3D
GameGauge score will
be an average of the
games' frame-rates rather than a
sum. That way, the final score looks more
like a typical frame-rate you'd see in a
game, and makes more sense.

Look for 3D GameGauge 2.0 to make its
print debut next month in our 3D card
roundup featuring new hardware from
nVidia, Matrox, S3, and 3dfx. And as if
that's not enough, look for even more infor-
mation about 3D GameGauge at its new
online home at www.3dgamegauge.com.

— Dave Salvator

News Blurbs

Recent Developments in the
Computer Gaming World

Violent Computer
Games Under Attack

C omputer gaming is under attack once
again as lawmakers, psychologists, and
others debate the relationship between vio-
lent games and real acts of violence among
teens. In April, the parents of three slain
Kentucky teenagers filed a S130 million law-
suit against a group of game companies and
other media outlets, blaming the influence
of media violence for inspiring the
December 1. 1997, incident in Paducah,
Kentucky, in which a 14-year-old boy
brought six guns to his high school and
opened fire. The boy's computer, seized by
police, contained a number of games, such
as DOOM and QUAKE. Named in the suit
were Acclaim, Activision, Apogee, Atari,
Capcom, Eidos, GT Interactive, id. Interplay,
Midway, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and
Squaresoft.

As we went to press, the horrific mas-
sacre at Columbine High School in Colorado
prompted Pennsylvania state senator Jack
Wagner to introduce legislation making it an
offense to sell or rent violent video games

(as determined by the Entertainment
Software Ratings Board) to minors under
age 18. Similar proposed legislation is also
on the table in Arkansas, Washington, and
Minnesota. Computer Gaming World liojres
to cover botli the news and viewpoints sur-
rounding this deeply complex story in
upcoming issues.

WARBIRDS Developers
Fly the Coop

On Friday. April 23, a resignation
was tendered by the entire Grape-
vine, Texas-based I-Magic Online
development group. A team member
told CGW that although slated to
relocate to Interactive Magic’s North
Carolina headquarters, they decided
instead to stay in Texas to form their
own game design company, Playnet.
A source close to I-Magic told us that
the parting is amicable, and that tire
Grapevine group was working with I-
Magic and former MPG-Net staffers
to ease the transition of development
to the North Carolina offices. Still.

CGW UPDAnS 30 GAMEGAUGE • 5. 10, 15 YEARS AGO • NEWS

f S IO, and 15

Years Ago in CGW

What We Were Writing About
While You Were in Diapers

15 Years Ago

Johnny Wilson reviewed the surprisingly
fun PRESIDENT ELECT
in our August issue
(there was no July
ish that year). Try
as he might, he
couldn’t stop the
Gipper from rolling
over the demos and
landing a second
term of office. "It
wasn’t a great deal
of fun to run Mondale against Reagan
under historical conditions," Wilson
wrote. Apparently Jesse Jackson didn’t
fare so well either. Fifteen years later,
we were rooting around for an update
that would allow us to run Johnny Wilson
against Dan Quayle in 2000.

10 Years Ago

Our July 1989 issue featured an ad for
a game called OMNICRON CONSPIRACY,
which painted a pretty picture; "You'll be
tempted with
cheap booze,
wild sex and
mind-altering
drugs. You'll be
chased across
six planets by
crazed religious
cultists, vicious
droid assassins
and horny
women. You'll have the time of your
life.” Promises, promises. That’s what
they told us when we moved to San
Francisco, too.

5 Years Ago

Back in '94, before QUAKE was even a
twinkle in his eye, we had started to see
the light and were practicing to "be
Romero's bitch.” He didn’t have a
"Testosterosa” yet like his boss, pimp-
daddy Carmack, but we were blowing
smoke up his rear end anyway for being
a top-notch level
designer and
“Deathmatch
Diety.” When he
actually starts
making games
again, we promise
to stop making fun
of him. ..as long as
they don't suck.

/.computergaming. (

COMPUTER GAMING WORlD»JULY 1999

ONLY A SELECT FEW IN THE GALAXY

HAVE BLOWN THE MILLENNIUM FALCON.

AND UNLESS YOU REACH THE FINAL BATTLE, IT WILL STAY THAT WAY.

players will clash with Imperial fighters in spectacular 3D
missions. Finally, if you’re worthy, you will find yourself in the
cockpit of the legendary Millennium Falcon, flying against
the massive Imperial fleet in the climactic. |HH|||||H
Battle of Endor. Ultimately, it will be your
agility, resolve and combat skills in these
maneuvers that will determine your destiny.

Not to mention, the fate of the entire galaxy.
www.lucasarts.com/products/alliance •vwvw.starwars.com

/ M-mm \

ILLimZ

PIPELINE

Send notices to: cgwpipeline@zd.com

A-IO Waithog Jane's/EA

Q3 '99

Age <rf Emiriree U EiwMiUe/Mkrosoft

Q3 '99

Anachronox Eidos

Q3’99

AxU A Allies Expamlm Hsabfo Interactive

04 '99

S^lon 5 Space Combat Sierra F/X

04 '99

BatUezone 2 Activision

Q3'99

Beneath Activisiofl

03 '99

Chessmaster 7000 MIndscape

Q3 '99

CIvD War Genends 3 Impreeslons/Slerra

Q3'99

Creatures Adventures MIndscspe

03 '99

1 Conquest: Front Wars Digital AnWI/Mktosofl qs '95 1

Daifcatana Ion Storm/Eidoa

03 '99

Dwh Reign 2 Activision

03 '99

Dsryl F. Gates’ PoUee Quest: SWAT 2 Sierra

Q3 '99

Dsstaoyer Command SSI

03*99

DIaMoll Blizzard

Diplomacy Avalon Hill/Hasbro Interactive

03 '99

Drakan Psygnosis

03 '99

Flash Point interactive Magic

03 '99

nigM Unlimited IIIEA

02 '99

Fiy]Q.0.D.

Q3 '99

Gabriel Knlglit 3 Sierra Studios

Q2'99

Giants Interplay

03 '99

Heavy MeUI FXK.K.2 6.O.D.

04 '99

Hidden and Dangerous TakmSoft/Talie 2

Q3'99

High Heat Baseball 2000 3D0

02 '99

Indiana Jpnes/Infemal Machine LueasArts

03 '99

Interstate '82 ActtvMon

03 '99

Jane’s F/A-18 Jane's/EA

04 '99

Kingpin Intetplay

Loose Caimon Microsoft

04 '99

Madden 2000 EA Spoita

MaxJm.um Overkill Novalo^c

03 '99

Max Payne G.O.D.

03 '99

MechWarrIor HI MlcioProse

02 '99

Messiah Shlnv/lnterolav

Metal Fatigue Psygnosla

Q3 '99

MiG Alley Empire

Q3'99

Mysl: Collectora' Edition Red Oib

03 '99

NASCAR Racing III Sierra Sports

03 '99

Need for Speed: High Stakes EA

03 <99

Nocturne G.O.D.

04*99

Omikron Eidos

03 '99

Outcast Infogrames

Panzer GenerM 3D SSI

03 '99

Planescape: Torment Interlay

Q3 '99

Point of Atteek HPS Simulations

03 '99

Pftnco of Persia 3D Red Orb

03*99

Quake III Arena Id Software

TBA

Re*V6HAeclelm

03 '99

SepterraCore Monolitii

03 '99

Settlers III: Quest of the Amazons Blue Byte

03 '99

Seven lOngdpms II Interactive Magic

03 *99

Sbadowpaet Blue Byta

04 '99

SDent Hunter II SSI

03 '99

Soldier of Fortune Reven/ActivMon

Q3’99

Starleneer OigRaJ AnyD/Mlerosoft

04 ‘99

Star Trek: Kllngon Academy Interplay

03 '99

Star Trek: New WoiMs bitemlav

03 '99

1 Sts Trek: SLfteet Com. Qulcksllver,^nterplayq3'99 1

Swords & Sorcery Westwood

03*99

Team Fortress li Valve/Sierra

04 '99

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Caved<4

03 '99

Ultima Ascension prlgln/EA

04 '99

vampire: The Masquerade Activision

04 '99

VVartiammer4Gk:RitesofW«Dreamrorge/SSI Q3’99 1

Wailotds Prophecy SSQ SSI/Red Orb

03 '99

Werewotf ASC Games

04 '99

Wheel of Time GT/Legend

Q3'99

WBd, Wild West SouthPeak

Q4'99

Wings of Destiny Psygnosis

03 '99

tliis means signifi-
cant updates of
WARBIRDS and
DAWN OF ACES are
unlikely for a while,
while new develop-
ers come up to speed
on the code. A group
at I-Magic had been
working with the

WARBIRDS code for a now-shelved retail game, so the out-
look for WARBIRDS fans isn't as dark as it would be if new
programmers had to start from scratch. In addition, I-Magic
is reportedly in talks with Playnet about future products.

April's resignations follow the earlier departure of
WARBIRDS creators Dale Addink and Doug Balmos,
reportedly over creative differences with I-Magic's "Wild
Bill" Stealey. — Denny Atkin

Microsoft Buys Access Software

One of the last major independents gaming companies
is independent no longer. In April, Microsoft acquired
Access Software, the Sait Lake City-based makers of the
long-running, award-winning LINKS golf series and Tex
Murphy adventure games. The move was welcomed by
Access, who will now have Microsoft’s publishing and

THE GOOD

I • BASEBALL FEVER EveiyHiing
I else may suck these days, so
I thank goodness for baseball. And
j Blank goodness for 3D0's HIGH
HEAT 2000, the best PC baseball
game in years.

• GOOD CYBERPUNK With The Mabix and eXistenZ,
Kollyvvood finally does justice to cyberpunk and to com-
puter gaming. (Tmr doesn't count)

THE BAD

• eBAY We love eBay. TliaPs why
we hate it The online auction
I service is such an amazing
I repository of great stuff, that the
I CGW editors are wasting too
I much of their time and pay-
I checks when they should be playing games instead.

I Make it go away.

I * POKEMON FEVER Forgive us if we don't jump on the
bandwagon for the latest money-sucking gimmick des-
tined to reside at the bottom of kids’ closets everywhere,
right next to the Tickle Me □mos, Furbies, and Scratch-
n-Sniff Johnny Wilsons.

THEUGUr

• NO MO' JOE Joe Vallina:
deadline fescist, bubba lover.
The man who popularized the
phrase “eat it” at the CGW
office. A lurking weasel in
deathmatches. Formeriy a real
cool dude. Now he works for
someone else.

Good luck, Joe. You bastard!

NEWS • PIPEUNE • WEB PICKS

Instead of surfing the Web this
month, we'd like to suggest a
different form of activity. Turn
off your computer. Go outside.
Breathe the fresh air. Exercise.
Hey — don't go away! We
were just kidding! The sun's
bad for you. exercise is over-
rated, and you're much safer
in your room.

Here are some of the Web sites
that caught the CGW editors'
eyes this month. Be sure, too,
to check out

vvwvv.gamespot.com for the
best gaming news, reviews,
and previews.

Dave’s Pick
http://www.loskene.com/
singalong/kirk.html
The Captain lames T. Kirk
Singalong Site. As the site says;

" If you have never had the
opportunity to hear Mr. Shatner
sing, well, now you do. That is if
you call it singing."

Denny’s Pick

www.voodooextreme.com

Despite the 3dfx-centric name,
Voodoo Extreme is actually a
top-notch source of informa-
tion on all things 3D. We like
the irreverent attitude, but their
fascination with Ron Jeremy is
a bit disturbing.

George’s Pick

www.mp3spy.com

Streaming audio that doesn't
sound like AM radio.

Jeff’s Pick

www.planethalflife.com/

community/waiter/

"Walter's World," the surreal,
ridiculous musings of one
Walter Bennett, "a biochemist
at the Black Mesa Research
Facility," is a continuing minor
masterpiece of a HALF-LiF£ col-
umn by someone with way too
much time on his hands.

Johnny’s Pick

www.trainorders.com

This site is a must for rail fans
and tycoons who can't get
enough of RRT II: THE SECOND
CENTURY.

Robert’s Pick

www.highheatbaseball.com

An unofficial fan site, this site
has good discussion boards,
downloadable tune files, and
other info for HIGH HEAT
BASEBALL 2000.

Tom's Pick

www.games4mac.com/

/.romputer/jaming.f

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

1. Name, rank, and serial number, and tell us
about your theatrical background.

I'm Joseph Kucan, the Producing Director of
Dramatic Assets at Westwood Studios. I direct
all of the dramatic assets for Westwood prod-
uct, including voice-over, film and video, texture
models, and motion capture. I've been an actor
since childhood. I spent four years on the staff
of directors for IceFire Performance Croup, a
touring theatre company, and 10 years as the
educational director for the Rainbow Company,
a repertory theatre company here in Vegas. I
also spent a lot of years freelancing as a stage
combat director, having trained to obtain profi-
ciency in a number of period weapons and
styles. When women ask me what I do for a liv-
ing, I tell them I'm a rodeo clown.

2. Has being Kane been a fun experience for
you?

Oh, you know, indoor work, no heavy lifting.
Actually, it's pretty cool. The fans are the best-
enthusiastic and loyal. And us video game char-
acters make up a pretty exclusive club— Duke
Nukem and I go out drinking every once in a
while, and I've been dating Lara Croft for a cou-
ple of months.

3. Gotta ask about the hair. Tiberium poisoning?
No, NOD barbers. You tell them "a little off the
top" and this is what you get. But that's NOD—
always with the overkill.

4. Who's tougher? Kane or the Las Vegas casino
bouncers?

Kane, but only because he has more tanks.
Caesar's Palace is putting in an obelisk next
month, but somehow they've programmed it to
work only on Californians.

5. You were the lead in Westwood's MONOPOLY.
Why didn't you play Rich Uncle Pennybags?
Three reasons: (1) The top hat would hide my
beautiful balditude. (2) I wouldn't get to carry a
gun. (3) Kane gets more chicks.

6. When can we expect a Kane action figure?
Just as soon as our testers finish painting the
goatees on all those leftover Jean-Luc Picard
dolls. —Mark Asher

distribution muscle to move their
titles. According to Access presi-
dent and CEO Bruce Carver, the
company wOl retain its Salt Lake
City headquarters and development
teams to “keep the magic, and keep
in touch with our loyal users, espe-
cially for LINKS." Founded in 1982,
Access goes way back with
Microsoft, having produced many of
the MICROSOFT GOLF titles using
LINKS code. Microsoft Games Group
general manager Ed Fries said that
the current plan is to retain the
Access and LINKS names, and to
keep MICROSOFT GOLF around at a
low ($19.95) price point for more
casual golf fans. And Tex Murphy?
"He’s in a holding pattern for now,"
according to Carver.

Infogrames Buys
Accolade

Also in the acquisitions depart-
ment, French game publisher
Infogrames Entertainment
announced this April their purchase
of San Jose-based Accolade, the
company behind the HARDBALL and
TEST DRIVE franchises as well as
the upcoming, highly anticipated
SLAVE ZERO. Like Havas Interactive,
another French gaming company,
Infogrames is serious about expand-
ing its base in the United States, so
the appeal of Accolade is obvious.
Accolade, meanwhile, is in desper-
ate need of a hit with SLAVE ZERO,
as its most Irigh-profile franchises
have fallen on hard times in the last
couple of years, following a series of
mediocre releases.

Site dedicated to petitioning game pub-
lishers to offer Mac versions of popular
titles like GRIM FANDANGO and
BALDUR’S GATE.

MPMan F20 Eiger Labs'

MPMan doesn't have the
slick controls of Diamond's
Rio, but it does have a nice
bass boost feature as well as a }
slick leather belt clip. Now that
there's competition on the MP3 player "
front, we'li likely see lower prices. These
pager-sized digital music players are
addictive, and there are thousands of
legitimate songs available on the Web, or
you can create your own MP3 files from
your CD collection.

MPMan F20, $199.95 (under $150
street price), www.eigerlabs.com

Coolness Factor: 4 — Digital tunes
wherever you go.

Geek Factor: 1 — Most people won't
even notice it.

EARTHMATE it may look like a ciga-
rette case for scuba divers, but Delorme's
Earthmate is actually a compact Global
Positioning System (GPS)
receiver. Attach it to your
PC’s serial port or
(with an adapter) to
your Palm Pilot and you'll
never be lost again. Load up
the included Street Atlas USA
6,0 and the system will even give
you spoken directions as you drive.

Earthmate, $199.95,
www.deiorme.com

Coolness Factor: 4 — Never get lost
again.

Geek Factor: 4 — It's bright yellow,
and hard to spousally rationalize if you're
not a hiker, boater, or pilot.

Tchotchke

of the„,Manth

Tchatch‘ke ichach’ke): slang, from Yiddish:
a cheap, ^owy trinket

— American Heritage College Dictionaiy, Third Edition

It's a fish. It's a pen. Ladies and gentlemen... the fish pen.

Yes, the fish pen, submitted by Sierra Sports to plug their new TROPHY BASS 3D, i
definitive proof that a tchotchke doesn't have to necessarily be big, or flashy, or e
remotely cool, to win CGW's prestigious Tchotchke of the Month award. The fish pen receives
the honor not just because the idea that a gaming editor might actually want to write with
this is a remarkably odd one, even for gaming marketing weasels, but also because it quite
poignantly symbolizes what has become of the sporting giant that Sierra once was. From
FRONT PAGE SPORTS to the fish pen: like the 1999 Chicago Bulls, this is one hard fall. Oh well,
at least we have the bull riding game to look forward to.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

.'.compLitergaming.com

EVERY MOVE IS PATTERNED AFTER REAL
HUMAN BEINGS...

EXCEPT THE RETURNING-FROM-THE-DEAD PART.

INTRODUCING LOCKE - an ancient warrior
whose moves are so lifelike, it's hard to believe he's
been dead for 10,000 years. Resurrected for the noble
purpose of savin? the daughter of a warlord, Locke
goes about his business in an anything but noble fashion
-hacking, slashing and otherwise mutilating a field of
enemies that don’t go down easy. Which is precisely
why Locke has such an intricate fighting system that
features real-time attacks, combinations, and fatalities

as well as stealth mode for slitting throats, projectile
weapons to kill from afar, and ]0 magic spells. Of
course, if 25 types of enemies aren't enough for you, try
the multi-player mode that invites up to 4 people in
deathmatch and dungeon fare. Revenant is a living,
breathing, and often horrifying world filled with caves,
dungeons, ruins and many more customizable levels to
explore. But no matter where you go with Locke, we
think you'll agree: Life is better the second time around.

C I N E M A T I X

•W.

Enter tlie Revenant World dt
ibj* V • www.eidosinteractive.coni

CINEMATIX STUDIOS b o trodemark et anemcitix Studio*, Inc. REVtNAMT U a trodecnork of Eldo*, WC. 9 19^E{do«, PIC Eidos Intaruclive U a rogislwd trodomork of Ei^»,
PLC. ® 1999 Eidos, PIC O 1999 3Dfx tntorodivo, Ine, The 30fx tntoractivo lego i* a trademark of 3Dfx Intoroctive, tnc. In the USA end In other s^ect eoortfrie*. The ratings kon
is o trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Asseciolien. AH rights rested.

ne Itzetime isnt enoug

eiDOS

INTERACTIVE

Go to #151 @ www.computergammg.com/infolink

Destroying your enemies

ISN’T ENOUGH...

"The elaborate architecture within these 3D
environments is some of the best Next
Qeneration has seen on the PlayStation,"

-Next Qeneration

As Raziel, stalk the shadows of
Nosgoth hunting your vampire
brethren. Impale them with
spears. Incinerate them with
torches. Drown them in water.
No matter how you destroy
them, you must feed on their
souls to sustain your quest -

Ihc spectral plane
and confront unique enemies and
gameplay challenges

the ruin of your creator, Kain. real-time between the matci ial

and spectral planes

Dark gothic story

"...the completely revamped sequel to
Legacy of Kain promises high immersion factor."

-Spin

1 E6

® ROM

PlayStation

.You MUST

DEVOUR THEIR SOULS

‘ ‘'it'

eiDOs

"-4.,

wm/.crystald.coin

vmw. efdoslMBracUve.com

Go to #272

@ www.computergaming.com/infolink

Let Freedom reign

F ollow in the footsteps of Scottish hero, William

Wallace, as you unite clans, overcome the might of
the English army and guarantee freedom for all future
generations of Scots.

Based on the award-winning motion picture starring Mel
Gibson, Braveheart combines a free-flovv, real-time strategy
engine with an expansive global management system.

In this historically accurate epic, there are no consolation
prizes in the battle for freedom.

♦> Allows individual control of on-screen Wirriors going far
beyond the traditional limits of unit management.

❖ Historically accurate 3D battlefields, using'satellite data
to 50 square meters, tests tactical and strategie^skills.

❖ Seamlessly combines real-time gameplay within a
turn-based, build an empire world.

❖ Choose among 16 historically accurate clans in your
battle to restore freedom to Scotland.

❖ Multiplayer scenarios for up to 8 players on LAN or
internet in both co-op or competitive modes.

EIDOS and TOMB RAIDER are registered trademarks ol Eidos Interactive. Inc. and Core
Design Ltd. CORE and LARA CROFT are trademarks ol Core Design Ltd. Copyright 1999
Core Design Ltd. All rights reserved.

Go to #290 @ www.computergaming.com/mfolink

Lara's adventures aren't over yet. Join her in a

continuation of Tomb Raider II in

the Golden Mask levels. Explore abandoned
mine shafts in Alaska and discover a strange and
hidden world of adventure. Many more

secrets await yea as Lara
uncovers the secret of the

/ Golden Mask.

/ ^

• 4 Never Before Seen Levels

• New Enemies

• Strange New Worlds

Win REAL GOLD!

Find out how you can win REAL GOLD in
the Tomb Raider II Gold contest and get a
sneak peek of the game by downloading
one of the new levels at
www.tombraider.com

T li ^

""N /' ^

► i/%

'i\

Battlezonell

Sequel to Cult Hit Has
Big Shoes to Fill

by Tom Price

T here's a quote by some
quasi-famous rock critic

about the Velvet Underground that
goes something like. "Not that
many people heard them, but
everyone who did went out and started a band
of their own." I won't suggest that everyone
who has ever played 6ATTLE20NE is going to go
out and start developing games, but you never
know. The point is, the fact that something isn't
hugely popular doesn't mean it sucks (and
being the winner of CGW's 1998 Action Game
of the Year award is definitely somewhere north
of sucks).

Adding to the unique action/strategy game-
play of the original in nearly every way, the
exclusive pre-alpha build of BATTLEZONE II {BZ2)
that CGW editors have been playing over the
last couple of weeks not only doesn't suck, It
may even be our first valid candidate for 1999
Action Game of the Year. The gameplay is deep-
er, the vehicles sexier, the worlds more exotic,
the Al more I, the graphics more beautiful than
In the original.

E.T. Go Home

The story for BZ2 picks up a few years after
the end of BATTLEZONE. The "real" cold war is
over and the NSA and CCA have settled their
differences and are now united as the ISDF
(Inter-Stellar Defense Force), dedicated to
bravely going where no battle tank has gone
before. Opposing the Earth's quest for bio-metal
and plans for planetary expansion are the
Scion, a mysterious alien race. Symbolically
beginning at an ISDF outpost on Pluto, the
action quickly moves (thanks to the neighbor-

I Battleione ll I

GENRE: Action/Strategy
RELEASE DATE: Q3 '99
DEVELOPER: Pandemic Studios
PUBLISHER: Activision

hood wormhole) to the exotic worlds of a dis-
tant solar system.

One of these worlds, Myer, is populated with
fire red and orange trees, bubbling opalescent
pools of goo, and lumbering plucked-chicken-a-
saurs. The creatures actually have an effect on
gameplay, preying on pilots on foot. According
to Pandemic, this was done as a balancing
move to counteract the power a pilot on foot
has with a sniper rifle. Too many people were
just bailing out of their tanks and sniping
enemy craft from afar. Now you'll have to worry
about getting devoured out in the open.

BATTLEZONE's interface was one of the ele-
ments that made that game great and BZ2
uses essentially the same command system, but
with some small yet significant changes. The
developers decided that what was realty miss-
ing in the command interface was the ability to
easily control groups of friendly vehicles.
Support craft are now automatically hot-keyed
as individuals and groups. This makes it quicker
and easier to issue commands to your ships in
the field, which in turn should make it much

easier to manage your resources when you're in
die middle of a firefight.

Baby, You Can Drive My Tank

Among the cooler aspects of BATTLEZONE
were the vehicles. The Grizzly tank, the scout,
and other various hover-vehicles offered a cool
combination of futuristic technology and cold-
war design. Well, the Grizzly's back, (this year's
model anyway), and it's joined by over 30 new
vehicles sporting brand-new physics engines
that are built to travel over land, air, and sea.
Before you get too excited at the prospect of
piloting aircraft, understand that the two craft
capable of flight, the bomber and the armored
personnel carrier, aren't player-controlled.
Instead, they swoop In when ordered to deliver
either footsoldiers or a load of bombs to a tar-
get area. The troops you deploy will be able to
carry 25 different weapons, including mortars
and bazookas.

Ground vehicles are divided into three cate-
gories; hovering, tracked, and biped. Tracked
vehicles are new to BATTLEZONE, and most of

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

the utility vehicles are in that category. Those
vehicles won't be able to cross water or other
obstacles that a hover-tank would glide right
over, although the increased ability of the
construction bots allows you to build bridges
to overcome water obstacles. Your old
favorites like the recyder will be back, along
with other helper vehicles that will resupply
you in the field.

Walkers will have limitations similar to those
of tracked vehicles. They’ll utilize skeletal ani-
mations and "process" animation (where
movement is defined not by a human program-
mer but through mathematical operations that
adhere closely to the physics model).

This time around, water will be playing a big
role, so naturally there will be vehicles that
travel exclusively underwater. A scout sub is
modeled on the build we saw, and it looked
really cool.

The vehicles controlled by the alien force, the
Scion, look more, well, alien, and they are
based on a development tree entirely different
from that of the ISDF. Most of them will be able
to transform into a different ship, with different
weapons, physics, and other characteristics. For
instance, a Scion tank will be able to morph
into a scout

War Is Beautiful

BZ2 is utilizing a brand-new graphics engine,
and in the build we saw it looked absolutely
amazing. Explosions are virtual flower blos-
soms of fire, streaking debris and billowing
smoke. I guarantee that the first time a Scion
tank erupts in front of you you'll be oohing and

IT'S BEAUTIFUL, MAN Explosions
show off the power of the new
graphics engine nicely.

They are also working on some anti-cheat mea-
sures to prevent online players from flooding
their own ranks with, say, mortar bikes, to give
themselves an advantage.

Developers at Pandemic have put a lot more
effort into making the Ai more human. Aside
from enhandng the realism of single-player
gameplay, the new AI will make it much more
difficult to distinguish between human and bot
opponents in multiplayer. Formerly, some online
gamers were able to tell whether hover-tanks
in their sights were driven by human oppo-
nents orAI wingmen simply by looking for
tanks that strafe or
that occasionally
run away — a dead
giveaway that your
nemesis is driving
and is therefore
your primary target.
Now, all computer-
driven craft will try
to behave more like
live gamers.

In a move that is
sure to please hard-
core fans of the
title, a map editor
will be included in
BAHLEZONE II.You'll
be allowed to edit
terrain, change tex-
tures, and add
buildings and
wildlife. The
Pandemic team is
making a smart
move in giving
gamers more developing power; the more
user mods created, the longer a game gets
played — and the greater the chance for peo-
ple to discover it.

Pandemic, wisely, followed the adage "If it
ain't broke, don't fix it" in developing this
sequel. BATTLEZONE was a sublime title that
developed a small yet fervent following of
serious gamers. Those fans can be hard to
please, but the significant improvements that
appear to be in store for BATTLEZONE II sug-
gest that those people won't be disappoint-
ed. And if there is any justice in the world,
BATTLEZONE II will attract new fans and be
the hit that BZ1 should have been.

aahing like Cletus the slack-jawed yokel at his
first Sea World 4th of July fireworks show. The
new graphics engine also helps make the
worlds themselves more fully realized and
beautiful. Basic terrain is similar to that of the
first game, but with the new flora and fauna,
the worlds are much more alive than the deso-
late moons that served as the backdrop for
BAHLEZONE.

Significant improvements are being made to
the multiplayer game, focusing on the death-
match and real-time-strategy modes and
enhanced teamplay (which should feature
some TEAM FORTRESS-style play, with defender,
attacker, and commander character classes).

tf-computeigatiiing.c

nne McCaffrey had the right idea when she decided to write books about riding
dragons as opposed to merely slaying them. Dragons have traditionally been presented in
• tL fantasy works as powerful enemies that you had to kill. But most people I know would rather
have control over a dragon than vanquish it. Now DRAKAN: ORDER OF THE FLAME, the first game from
Surreal Software, gives gamers a chance to experience the rush of riding and controlling a dragon.

DRAKAN began life at Surreal as a technology demo of an underwater scuba diving game. Then,
perhaps as a result of playing too much DUNGEON KEEPER, the developers came up with the idea of a
game in which you could be a flying dragon. Their underwater-game engine seemed perfect for it.

But an engine, however sexy, does not by itself make for a compelling game. So DRAKAN spins a
story in which you play Rynn, a beautiful warrior girl who ends up on a fantastic and dangerous quest
to find her destiny and her family. One evening, Rynn and her little brother, Dylan, are walking home
to their village when suddenly they are ambushed by a group of fierce, growling Wartoks. Drawing
swords, Rynn and Dylan slay a few Wartoks, only to have the match end when the few remaining
beasts charge and knock Rynn to the ground, leaving her for dead.

When Rynn awakens, her brother is nowhere to be found. Returning to her village, she discovers it
has been attacked and the villagers have been carried off. A dying village elder tells Rynn of a book
that can summon Arokh, the last surviving dragon of the Order. Eventually, Rynn and Arokh go
through a bonding ritual to become dragon and rider, and they set off on a quest to discover the fate

It's a Matter of Scale in Psygnosis' Gorgeous Dragon Sim

FASHION SENSE While Rynn is probably as top-heavy as Lara
Croft, at least she has the sense to wear pants and some pro-
tective armor.

Drakan

GENRE: Action
RELEASE DATE: Q3'g9
DEVELOPER: Psygnosis
PUBLISHER: Surreal Software

of the other villagers and
find Dylan. Along the
way. Rynn will have to
rediscover the lost Order
of the Flame and,
through her special bond
with Arokh, effect its
rebirth.

Flying High

The 3D engine, which
delivers a high degree of
performance, was
designed especially to
accommodate scaling,
This means you can be
hovering high over a for-
est of tiny trees and then
plunge down to swoop in
among the branches, and
as you get closer, more
and more detail is
revealed. The world
geometry is stored in lay-
ers. which can be mor-
phed and shaped. When rendered togeth-
er, multiple layers appear seamless, and
the design also emphasizes model sharing.
Each object in the world— a tree, for
instance — can have its own data, sounds,
and textures, yet the mesh geometry is
reused throughout the game.

The six distinct environments that make
up the worlds of DRAKAN are stunningly
beautiful. Large amounts of detail in the
picturesque landscapes make them
extremely realistic. The lovely night skies
blend effortlessly with the ambient sounds
of the forest; chirping crickets, the cries of
birds, running water. Everydiing works
togedier to convey a magical fairy-tale
experience.

After bonding with Arokh, Rynn follows
the trail of her brother's captors, journey-
ing through a series of winding canyons to
discover the Grimstone mines where the
villagers have been taken. Emerging on the
other side of the mountains, she encoun-
ters a lost tropical sea and journeys among
its mysterious islands. Eventually she
comes to the legendary city of Alwarren,
built within the lava tubes of an ancient
volcano. Each level seems to provide
around two to three hours of play, and
more if you really explore them. As you
move further into the game the landscapes
become wilder and more fantastical. When
you move from one to another there is a
short pause as the new level loads, but
then action picks right back up. The
feeling that you have been pulled into this
magical world is never disturbed by static
loading screens; even the in-game engine
manages to seamlessly convey all the sto-
ryline cut-scenes.

According to lead programmer Stewart
Denman, one of the most interesting
aspects of developing the game was the
creation of the integrated ground and aeri-
al combat system. Every attempt was
made to make it easy to learn but also to
allow its depth to be revealed as play pro-
gresses. There is a bond between Rynn and
Arokh, and this symbiotic relationship is
reinforced by the game's controls.

Playing DRAKAN should make action
gamers feel right at home. There is a
mouse-look feature that is a welcome car-
ryover, as demonstrated by HERETIC II, from
the first-person genre. Hard-core QUAKE
players know that effective use of mouse
look is critical for success in combat.
DRAKAN is Directlnput-friendly, and the
game offers a great deal of flexibility in
configuring controls.

Killing With Dragons, Not
Killing Dragons

Playing Rynn is lots of fun — she's not
so much an acrobat, but she's quite the
fighter. Not that she can't jump (she can),
but DRAKAN's style of gamepiay is more
oriented toward combat and, when the sit-
uation does not favor fighting, the use of
stealth. Rynn prefers to travel and fight on
dragon-back. She doesn't gain new abili-
ties based on experience; rather, she
advances by getting better weapons. There
are various magical weapons hidden with-
in DRAKAN's worlds. Some of them are
quite nifty, and each has a special effect,

t COMPUTER GAMING WORLD* JULY 1999

i/.computernamiiig.com

like a sword wreathed in flames that ignites
the creature it hits for added burn damage.
The names, from John the Monster's Axe to
Stewart's Hammer, add a lot of flavor as well.

Aerial combat is a blast — literally. Arokh
has a variety of breath spells beyond basic
fire breathing, including ice and poison gas.
The flight model is designed to seem natural
and to minimize disorientation. The dragon i'
a more stable firing platform when he is
hovering than when moving, but circle
strafing seems very effective against
flying monsters like other dragons
and giant insects. Arokh is sus-
ceptible to environmental
effects; occasionally he'll
be blown around by
updrafts, for exam-
ple. DRAKAN sup-
ports multi-
player
death-
match

action for up to eight players over a LAN or
the Internet.

The monsters can cooperate with each
other in combat If a lone Wartok sights Rynn
he may go and get other Wartoks and come
back with them. Wartoks can also exhibit
degrees of alarm. For example, a Wartok may
think he sees something moving in the shad-
ows, and, not being sure if it is a threat, may
choose to investigate before raising the
alarm. There is a creature even bigger than

CC-ROM

Arokh called the War Giant; one step, and
squish, The War Giant will pick up and throw
artything it can get its hands on, including
you. Rynn must sneak past this creature. The
Al fires a beam of sight from the eyes of the
giant, and he can spot Rynn if she moves into
his line-of-sight.

DRAKAN delivers fast action, a wondrously
deep storyline, and some of the most immer-
sive and beautiful 3D environments yet to
appear in a game. With a few exceptions,
most adventure or action games that use a
third-person perspective have been disap-
pointing for one reason or another.
Either gameplay is cliched or camera
control is awkward; often there are
1 nightmare levels of repetitive plat-
form jumping. DRAKAN, which at the
time of this writing is just about to
begin beta testing, could well
change ail that. We can't wait to
see if this is the game that breathes
new life into the third-person genre,
upping the ante for what we'll
come to expect from such games in
the future.

I WANNA FLY AWAY Alwarren is just one of the six
main environments you'll fly through in DRAKAN.

Can Empire's Korean War Sim Challenge FALCON 4.0?

rn»r

Cfia^rt

Sirianju

I Mig alien I

I t was the pinnacle of the dogfight.
The Korean War was the last of the
pre-missile aerial conflicts, where
getting a kill required the talent to
get behind your enemy and stay
there long enough to pump his airplane full
of deadly lead. Unlike previous conflicts,
much of the fighting involved jets on both
sides, with chases at times pushing the
sound barrier. Despite the unique and excit-
ing nature of the conflict however, it’s
rarely been visited in computer games.

Now Empire and FLYING CORPS developer
Rowan Software are giving the Korean con-
flict the attention it deserves with MiG
ALLEY, a sim that looks set to challenge
FALCON 4.0 in depth and CHUCK YEAGER’S
AIR COMBAT in excitement

by Denny Atkin ;

Aces Over the Yalit

Covering the entire course of the Korean War, MiG
ALLEY lets you fly for either side. On the United States
side, you'll be able to take the controls of the F-51 D
Mustang, F-80 Shooting Star, F-84Thunderjet and the F-
86A, F-86E, and F-86F Sabres. Other Allied aircraft such
as F9F Panthers, A-1 Skyraiders, B-29 Superfortresses, and
Gioster Meteors, will also

make appearances, but
they aren't player-flyable.

!f you choose to fly for the
forces of Communism,
you'll be able to support
your comrades fiying the
MiG-15 and the improved
MiG-1 5bis.

The sim's flight models
have a good feel; acceler-
ated stalls, spins, and ener-
gy bleed are well recreat-
ed, for example. But what's
particularly impressive Is
the subtlety of the model-
ing. Early jet engines were
slow at spooling up to
power, a characteristic that
killed more than a few experienced pilots. That's modeled
here, as are aircraft-specific characteristics such as the
MiG-15's deadly double-spiral spin. For even deeper
"feel," MIG ALLEY supports force-feedback joysticks.

The early alpha version didn't yet have simplified flight
models, but in the final release you'll be able to tune indi-
vidual aspects of the mode! to best suit your flying
prowess and experience, For example, if you're a beginner
you'll be able to not only disable departures from con-
trolled flight but also activate an autothrottle feature that
will help you stay behind your target. Other options

GENRE: Simulation • RELEASE DATE: Q3 '99 • DEVELOPER: Rowan • PUBLISHER: Empire Interactive

include flame-outs, wind effects, spins, airframe stress,
external store drag and weight, torque/slipstreaming, and
spool-up time.

The sim features virtual, 3D cockpits, rather than fixed
bitmaps, that are replete with detail. Canopy reflections
(which, although they've been appropriated by other
sims, first appeared in an early MiG ALLEY screen shot)
are particularly impressive, and they help you stay orient-
ed when using padlock view. A full complement of
scrolling and snap views helps maintain situational
awareness. You'll be able to adjust target size to make up
for the limited detail of the computer screen if you so
choose, and toggle realistically restricted views, peripher-
al vision cues, and automatic padlocking.

Sightseeing

Aircraft models are sharp, with detailed textures,
moving control surfaces, and intricately modeled land-
ing gear and speed brakes. Damage textures will indi-
cate bullet hits on your jet and the enemy.

The graphics engine has seen a complete rewrite
since FLYING CORPS. With rolling hills and a wide vari-
ety of textures, it loses the "photo on a tabletop" feel
of the earlier sim. Details abound, including roadways,
bridges, buildings, and nicely textured runways.

Terrain is based on actual aerial photography from
the era as welt as on later satellite imagery.

In addition to a wide variety of aerial targets, you'll
find a ground war going on as well. Tanks and other
vehicles are there now, and the developers promise
that you'll be able to see individual soldiers scattering
across the battlefield. Although special effects were
still preliminary in the version I flew, Rowan promises
impressive effects in the final version, including rocket
smoke, tracers, and napalm explosions,

One very welcome feature that I was unable to test
in the alpha version was a flight recorder, which will
let you replay your combat missions. Particularly
intriguing is a gun camera option, which will activate
the camera when you press the trigger and leave it on

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

long enough for weapons (air and
ground) to hit home.

air cover.

On to the
ParaHel

Multiplayer fans will
be happy to know that
in addition to playing
deathmatch and team
melee missions you'll
also be able to fly coop-
eratively and antagonis-
tically in single missions
and in the campaign.
You'll even have the
option of customizing
the nose art of your
plane in multiplayer
missions.

Looking at the alpha
version, it’s easy to see
how this title has been
delayed — its campaign
looks nearly as ambi-
tious as FALCON 4.0's,
Empire says the sim
will be ready for
release in July, but
from the completion
level at press time that
seems a little opti-
mistic. Still, it appears
MiG ALLEY will be well
worth the wait.

mi.

Battle Hardened

MiG ALLEY will feature instant-
action combat, as well as single mis-
sions that will help you earn your
wings. The real meat, though, comes in
the dynamic campaign. You can play
out the entire war as a campaign, or
choose one of five sections of the war,
such as the Chinese Intervention or
the Spring Offensive.

The Campaign Planner window is extremely powerful, yet quite accessible. The
interface sports a docked row of buttons at the top of the screen and a scalable map
of Korea below. Pop-up windows let you adjust mission parameters and view
detailed information on weather, base status, mission frags, and other campaign-
related matters.

How much control you choose to take over the campaign is purely up to you. You
can take on the role of a single pilot and just fly individual missions generated by the
campaign engine, or you can micromanage strikes by up to 96 aircraft per mission
session. Most players will probably go for a happy medium, adjusting the waypoints
and target objectives of their own flight and related support flights.

The Directives window gives you some influence over the campaign without forcing
you to manage die details of every flight. Here you can diwy up your fighters and strike
aircraftamong air superiority, chose, supply, airfield, rail, road, and army interdiction mis-
sions, and the computer will generate the individual missions. The missions may actually
consist of a number of
flights. For instance, a sor-
tie to take out a bridge
may have B-26 bombers
tasked with taking out the
bridge, F-80 Shooting Stars
taking out AAA sites, and
F-84Thunderjets providing

PRIME DIRECTIVE You can conO'oi the general tone of
the campaign — rather than having to micromanage mis*
sions — by setting target directives for combat flights.

COMPUTER CAMINC WORLD > JULY 139^.

CDME

VISIT

THE

PSYCHD

FRIENDS

NETWORK

Go to #060 @ www.computergaming.com/mfolink

iiGlU

In stores August 1999

<91999 Hasbto Inlctacllva, biD. All HiehH (Itserved.

pll^

SNEAK PREVIEWS

Your Chance
to Kick Rommel's

Nazi Butt out

of North Africa

by Denny Atkin

GENRE: Simulation
RELEASE DATE: 04 '99
DEVELOPER: Dynamix
PUBLISHER: Sierra

S and choked the engines, rendering expensive machines of war use*
less hunks of metal. Soldiers fought in the desolate expanses of desert, hun-
dreds of miles from supplies of ammo and water. North Africa during WWII was an
unforgiving, inhospitable battlefield. Now Dynamix is giving you the opportunity to battle
over this theater in DESERT FIGHTERS.

S'sr£>Vl'

It certainly doesn't sound glamorous, but die North African " Battle of Supplies" lends
itself to a very strategic campaign, one where the sim's designers can cause individual
pilots' actions to have a realistic effect on the progress of the war. In most circumstances
a single mission having dramatic effects on the outcome of a campaign is pretty unrealis-
■ tic, unless you happen to shoot down Yamamoto or Goering. But taking out a supply con-
voy or shooting down a couple of loaded transport planes can cripple a force that’s push-
ing its tines through the deep desert, cutting off vital fuel, ammo, parts, and rations.

DESERT FIGHTERS features a dynamic campaign that tracks the progress of the war • •
based on this supply-line theory, The types of missions generated and units encountered
are based on the current supply levels on each side. Wipe out a series of enemy convoys
and you'll likely face reduced opposition. But if your own supply lines start to get
stretched out, expect to see fewer aircraft fielded on your own side.

You can enter the campaign at four points in the war. Depending on which you
choose, you'll fly 50 to 200 missions. When you're ready to fly, you'll be presented with
an assortment of available campaign missions. Sortie types include sweep, offensive and
defensive patrols, combat air patrol, scramble, and dose support. You'll be tasked with
escorting light and heavy bomber raids, recon craft, mine-laying planes, and close-support
aircraft. At times, you'll be tasked with interdicting supplies, communications, or infra-
structure targets. There's no mission editing here — the sim puts you in the role of a pilot
without planning responsibilities.

Look for a variety of ground targets, including rail and vehicle
bridges, mechanized columns, warship convoys, tanks, railroad stations
marshalling yards, radar sites, infantry, and seaplane launches. And
le most of the existing WWiI sims feature missions in which the only
enemies you encounter are associated with your mission, here you'll be
able to look foiward to plenty of random encounters. While
flying, you may run into enemy fighte5 engaged
with allied bombers, friendly aircraft
attacking ground targets, or
even vulnerable
enemy subs
resupplying on
the surface next
to a tender ship.

Of course, if
you're learning the
sim and not ready
to commit to a 50-

mission tour, you can fly single missions as well. These are generated by the campaign
engine (you’ll be able to adjust many settings, such as the types of missions and planes in
the air, as in tlie ACES games), so you'll find lots of replayability here.

Coordmafiijd Attacks

DESERT FIGHTERS is staled to feature a robust set of muitipiayer options, Meiee and
Team Melee games give players points for shooting down otiier players and destroying
ground targets. King of the Hili is basically a game of tag. The "king" can score points for
shooting down other aircraft, Other players become
king (there will be one king for every eight fliers) by
shooting down the current king.

In the Courier game, one player on one team is
given the task of being the.courier, and will be told
to fly to a specific airfield to land. After landing, the
pilot can rearm and refuel, and then he'll be given a
new target to fly to. Each successful landing scores
points for your team. Nobody else, friend or enemy,
knows who the courier is, so he can choose to tell
his buddies and have them fly escort or go it alone
and let the others distract the enemy,

Rnaily, there's War, which is similar to Team Melee
but adds territory capture, target persistence, and
airaaft repair to the equation. Airfields and strategic

HUN AT 100 A Bf-109 skims the dunes. The sand tex-
; ture gives a great sense of speed at low altitudes.

. 66 , COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 199

JERRY DOWN A
Messerschmitt puffs
smoke as it heads
toward a crash landing.
Dynamix is promising
dramatic damage effects.

mission, facing the same '• ••
enemieSfc and get scored on
their performance.

Putting It All
Together

The attention to detail
throughout the sim was evi-
dent even in the early alpha
version I took fora spin.
Flight models will be adjustable, with
the most realistic modes featur-
ing stalls, spins, differing roll
rates at various altitudes
and airspeeds, and even
compressibility buffet-
ing. Characteristics of
specific planes, such as
the P-51's Dutch Roll
problems, will also be
modeled. Damage will
affect how your plane han-
dles. A damaged wing will have
more drag than an undamaged one;
damaged controls will reduce your control
authority.

lust Plane Cool

A viation history bul& rejoice: DESERT
FIGHTERS is going to give you an
opportunity to fly some rarely simulated
aircraft. Along with such staples as multi-
ple models of the Hurricane, Spitfire, P-40,
and Messerschmitt 109 (complete with the
big tropical air filters on their noses), you'll
be able to fly the Italian Macchi MC.200,
MC.202, and MC.205, as well as the Stuka
and Savoia-Marchetti SM.91. And Mustang
fans will be given their first chance to fly
the AUison-powered P-51A, as well as the
A-36 Apache dive-bomber variant of the
Mustang. The team also hopes to
have time to slip in flyable ver-
sions of the Bristol Beaufighter,
FW-190. and P-39.

Among the computer-con-
trolled aircraft will be the
Douglas A-20 Boston/Havoc, the
Bristol Blenheim, the B-24
} Liberator, Junkers Ju-52 and Ju-88,

> and tbe Savoia-Marchetti SM-79. The
team also hopes to work in planes such
as the Westland Lysander, Fiesler Storch,
Regianne Re-2001, and PBY Catalina.

landmarks will have antitank and antiair-
craft guns around them, Columns of tanks
will head towards those targets, and if all
the antitank guns have been knocked out
around a target it's captured.

These multiplayer modes will all sup-
port up to 64 players via the Internet. If
RED BARON 3D is any indication, perfor-
mance should be pretty smooth even with
that heavy a load. Dynamix developers
also addressed those times when you
have buddies over and you want to fly
competitively, but you have only a single
. computer. In Hotseat Swap mode, you'll
fly a mission and then receive a score.
Then your friends can fly the exact same

Go to #123 @ www.computergaming.com/infollnk

i-uwciiLii, god-Uke phyj

Experienced forester.

Strikes fear into the heart of the
most hardened villain.

Sleeps with one eye open.

Brooding. Mysterious. Intense. Intimidating.
Known to many as Ray the Behcader.

Wit and intelligence cliarm townspeople
and defeat enemies.

Willing to give life in the fight against the dragon.
Raw animal magnetism makes nim quite
popular with the wenches.

Lead a gang, control turf, Duiid a power
base and destroy your rivals on the mean
streets of BeatDom. Real-time, mission-
based urban action takes you where no
game has gone. Compete head-to-
head with up to four
j,r players via

Internet or LAN

415/567-9501
littp://www.hatb.cam
email: beatdown@hotb.cam

rrnronrBi DEVELOPED 8V

®1998 HOT-B USA, Inc. and Soar Soltwara Carp, All righia reserved. HOT-B Is a registered trademark ol HOT-B USA, Inc.

SOAR SOFTWARE Is a trademark ol Soar Sollware Corp. All olher Irademarfcs are the property ol their respective owners.

GET READY FOR A

BeatDom!

ir.mn'^ir

J^'irj:jfil£|lij

FRAME JOB The 109'$ cockpit under
construction in 3D Studio; all tiie
planes will have full virtual cockpit

DESERT FIGHTERS

Although the Al was still in flight school in the version I looked at it '
has noteworthy aspirations. Computer pilots will took at the tactical
situation and use boom-and-zoom or turning tactics, as appropriate.

You should see planes executing real maneuvers, such as high yo-yos, ' . •
while attacking targets. Skill, experience, and fatigue will figure into A! ' .
pilot performance.

Visuais were already impressive in tiie early version, witii sand tex-
ture giving a good sense of speed at
low altitude. Expert to see some
impressive damage effects, but per-
haps not to the "Hollywood" extent
of WW2 FIGHTERS. Although the
graphic engine is based on that of
STARSEIGE: TRIBES, the amount of
fogging has been significantly
reduced, and you should have no
problems viewing the horizon at a
distance. Both 3dfx Glide and
OpenGL will be supported. There
should be plenty of aural stimula-
tion, with lots of detail in the sound
effects department. Expert different
sounds, for instance, depending on
what kind of shell is hitting your
plane, and whether It's hitting solid
metal or stressed skin.

Witii a solid foundation from its
predecessors and an admirable
attention to detail, DESERT FIGHTERS
looks promising. The unique fleet of
aircraft alone has us anxious to join
up. [•('i'.'i

. ..nw , niMi liiti'i itTup.

■

INSTANT GRATIFICATION Along
vwth the d^amic campaign, tiie sim
will also generate missions of vari-
ous types on the fly.

Devoted monk. i

Servant of the Uaht.

: Walks through the valley of death
rwith a broad(sword.

Charismatic faith healer whose personal charm
w'ields enormous power.

Sought out for his wisdom and loving kindness.

• Held in reverence by all who cross his path.
Dogmatic about saving souls from the
dragon and the devil.

Greatest triumph: releasing an entire
village from an evil spell.

Once stayed 30 lizardmen. And it was good.
Vow of celibacy' tested daily due to the effect his
otherworldly sex appeal has on the womenfolk.

Go to #123 @ www.computergaming.com/infollnk

A ll of a sudden, hybrid games are the Next Big Thing, as publishers try
to break out of the genre niches for which they've become famous (or
infamous). In this case, Interactive Magic's FLASH POINT seems
designed to reach the fast-growing action-strategy market.

The premise is that World War III has become a reality. In the aftermath of
nuclear attacks by both sides in the war, the planet has been reduced to a
wasteland, except for a series of islands named Abel, Cain, and Eden. Now, the
two sides have agreed to fight a nice, traditional war on these islands, and
whoever wins the battle wins the primo living space
You'll be fighting in one of two dynamic campaigns in which the mission
types vary based on your performance rather than follow a pre-scripted plan.
You might begin with a simple reconnaissance mission; once it is complete,
your orders will be updated, in some missions you hold a piece of lani in oth-
ers you storm in and capture a fuel dump or vital road junction. Since the mis-
sions take place all over an Island, there's a time-compression option for trav-
eling, in case you don't want to sit down in a jeep and go through the entire
ride in realtime.

You start off as a lowly grunt taking orders. As you progress in rank, your
power increases in a couple of ways. One is that you’ll be able to pilot or drive
some of the many vehicles employed by the side you're fighting for I didn't
get to see a real flight model when I sampled the A-1 0 in the alpha build, but
when it's added it should be a bonus feature for anyone who plays both sims
and action-strategy games.

The most important factor in rank is that as the campaign progresses you'll
have the opportunity to command other squadmates. The interface for squad
command is auite strainhffnrwarrl.

1 Flash Point |

Just click on the icons representing
the soldiere you want to command,
then select a command from the

GENRE: Action/Strategy

DEVELOPER: Interactive Magic
PUBLISHER: Bohemian Interactive

■ WAGNER'S FAVORITE RIDE When

1 you reach the appropriate rank, you

1 can pilot the game's various vehicles.

dropdown menu, and finally click on either a target or a destination.

FLASH POINT looks like a unique game that will pull off the "footsoldier
who can hop into vehicles and drive" trick as well as add something new to
the action-strategy genre overall. As one editor put it, FLASH POINT seems a
little like "Saving Private Ryan: The Game." Let's hope that it gets the devel-
opment care it needs to justify that lofty comparison.

Flash Point

WWIII — Up Close and Personal by Thierry Nguyen

Go to #123 @ www.computergamlng.com/infolink

I Ravishing sorceress.

36-22-34.

Intuitive, intelligent, and deadly.

Perfect physical specimen.

Legs inspire lust in knights, rogues,
and warriors.

Uses powers for good, not evil.

Rebukes all suitors.

Harnesses rhagic energy through communion.
Will moiph into a werewolf if provoked.
Interests include decoding secret messages
and experimenting with arcane spells.
Meditation promotes luminous complexion.
Maintains girlish figure with daily swordplay

a ni s V

Dlgital^ddiction

"Sanctum cards don't
need physical form
to convey their magic"

♦ NY Times

"Simply excellent...
a truly addictive gaoje.
Rating 9/10"

♦ GAMESTATS

84 NEW CARDS.
TIMELESS RIVALRIES

Go to #100 @ www.computergamtng.com/infolink

Sanciiim and Digilal Addiclion are Irademarks ol Digital Addiction, Inc, All righls reserved.

METALLIC BLOODHOUND Playing
as a cop in Hot Pursuit mode now
gives you a helicopter for tracking
down traffic offenders and lets you
hop between different cops.

jHeeil tor Speed; High staKesj

GENRE: Driving • RELEASE DATE; Q3 '99
DEVELOPER; EA Seattle* PUBLISHER: EA

Need for Speed-

High Stakes

Damage Feature Adds Spice to EA Series

by Thierry Nguyen

O ne of the best adrenaline highs comes from
the feeling of danger. Developers at EA are
well aware of that, judging from a feature
they're introducing in the next NEED FOR SPEED game.
Sure, it's pretty thrilling to be chased by cops while
driving a Lamborghini Diablo, but what if you weren't
invincible? What if you had something on the line
besides a record? That's the premise behind NEED
FOR SPEED: HIGH STAKES (NFS: HS).

There are two significant additions in NFS: HS:
the damage model and the Career Play mode.
Remember the times when you'd let yourself
bounce off a wall and keep on driving? Well, you
might want to start avoiding that, because now you
can seriously bang up your car. Not only will your
car be visibly damaged, but the damage will affect
your performance. Of course, for gamers who crave
sheer speed without consequences, there's the
option of turning the damage model off.

The Career Play mode Is EA's attempt to personal-
ize the game by requiring that players earn the
money needed for their cars. Want that nice McLaren
FI ? Good luck in saving enough cash and winning

enough races to afford it. EA hopes that players
become more attached to their cars when they know
that they had to earn it and have the ability to modify
it after buying it. They even put the player's name on
the license plate.

In addition to the damage model and Career Play,
NFS: HS adds a bunch of other enhancements and
tweaks. For one thing, there's now a 3D virtual dash-
board, to more completely immerse the player in the
racing experience. Also, when playing as a cop in Hot
Pursuit mode, you can now shift control to another
cop car, so if a fellow Al cop gets closer to the suspect,
you can take over for him for the finishing touch.

Of course, there will also be a new set of cars. Old
familiars like Ferrari and Lamborghini will be there,
along with new faces like Mercedes and BMW. Like
its predecessor, NFS: HS will have some bonus cars
that we don't yet know about, and after release, EA
will offer new cars for download.

All in all, EA wasn't content with just tossing in
new cars and tracks for their next game; they went
the extra mile and added a whole new gamepiay
mode and damage model. We’re glad of that, and
we look forward to driving our new wheels when
the game hits the streets this July.

j6id farcmcll to
former self

Go to #123 @ www.compulergaming.com/infolink

world of Dirkstone And leave
At the door. Surviving this
Td, living under rhe shadow
of a nefarious dragon, will require
nothing less than a complete transfor-
mation. As A knight, monk, thief, or
sorcerer, you will creep through dun-
geons, explore tow'tis and wilderness,
and slay armies of nasty enemies on
your quest to collect the seven orbs
that can defeat your firebreathing
nemesis. Look deep inside yourself.
Is there a dragon slayer within?

Elg^jLtia fur

tT^i

Eli

i{:-44hLJkiyUilJ*lillK

IJJ

by GGW Acbon Edbor,

Robert Coffey

V QUAKE III ARENA ■ TEAM FORTRESS 2 ■ UNREAL TOURNAMENT

ianred

. COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • JULY 1999

Quake III:
Arena

Can the Once and Future
King of DeathMatch Hold
Its Throne of Blood?

UAKE games, the undisputed masters of
the first-person shooter and the
: \ DeathMatch, have always stood hip-deep
, ^ ;i in the gory offal of their competitors.

^ ' Repeatedly setting the standard for brutal-
» ly enthralling action, the demented genius-

es of id Software have spawned a rabid
. community of gamers who revel in the vir-
' . > tual fragging of both friends and strangers
across LANs and the Internet. But in the wake of new stars
like Valve's HALF-LIFE and id's own surprising decision to
focus gamepiay strictly on the multiplayer side of the equa-
tion, QUAKE III; ARENA (Q3A) Is the first id release to beg the
question, "Will It be worth it?"

The short answer? You bet your ass.

The Big Picture

"After the multiplayer experience in QUAKE III. nobody
will need to play any other multiplayer game. We have cre-
ated the most perfect DeathMatch gama" From anyone
other than Tim Willits, lead level designer for Q3A, it would
be easy to dismiss such a strong statement as little more
than careless braggadocio, but given id's track record, such
a statement practically borders on prophecy.

While forgoing the traditional, story-driven single-player
game may seem an Incredibly risky move, let's face facts;

The plots of the QUAKE games weren't going to win any
Pulitzer prizes. In fact, as challenging as the single-player
component was, many gamers played the games solely
against other people, eschewing the solo experience entire-
ly. Recognizing that group carnage was what It does best, id
has simply narrowed its ^cus to make the definitive
DeathMatch game.

Part of that focus is on facilitating connectivity. According
to Todd Hollenshead, id's CEO, when Q3A ships, gamers
should be able to connect to an Internet game "in no more
than three clicks" with the ability to log on to a Quakeworld
server through their browser. This will let id use banner
information for game updates and will allow gamers to
bookmark their favorite servers.

Once connectivity is dealt with, the challenge is to keep
frustration, specifically game-souring lag tim^ at bay. By id's
own admission, Q3A will use pretty much all the bandwidth
of a 56K modem while utilizing a completely new network-
ing structure to milk bandwidth for all it's worth. The good
news is that the look of the game won't suffer at the
expense of speed. Kenneth Scott and Paul Steed have creat-
ed character models that are the epitome of the brutish
nightmares gamers have come to expect of Id. Each of the

Qualielll:
Arena!

Genre; Shooter • Release Date: Q3 '99
Developer id Software • Publisher Activision

Team

Fortress?

Genre: Shooter • Release Date: Q4 '99
Developer Valve • Publisher Sierra Studios

Unreal
Tournament

Genre: Shooter • Release Date: Q3 '99
Developer Epic Games • Publish^ GT Interactive

COVER ST O R Y

COVER STORY

PURPLE HAZE With all the new graphical bells and whistles,
QUAKE III; ARENA will be the best-looking id game yet Even better,
gamers will be able to customize some weapon effects, like the pur-
ple trail of this rail gun, to give their death-dealing a personal touch.

13 models has an 800-, 500-, and 300-
polygon version, letting the game save
bandwidth by swapping in lower-polygon
models when figures are at a distance.
And hard-core 3D graphics aficionados
will be happy to know id has opted for a
three-point animation scheme that may
not be as flashy as the trendy skeletal
animation of other games but blesses
players with the most efficient vertex
deformation for online play.

Finally, id plans for Q3A to standardize
the rules for DeathMatch and other
games used for tournament play. It's a
pretty crafty goal on their part; By
becoming the definitive authority on the
rules of play, they set Q3A up as the
definitive mode of play.

The Single-Player
Experience

The primary goal of Q3A's single-play-
er game is to lessen the intimidation fac-
tor of online DeathMatching for new-
comers (while the game will ship with
Capture the Flag and perhaps some
other mods, they won't be available in
single-player mode). To that end, the

Team Fortress 2

Valve Goes to War in the Foliowtlp to HALF-LIFE

S omeone's going to do it right. Someone's
going to get it right. And when they do, it's
going to be huge." Gabe Newell, managing
director of Valve, is certain that rampant
online multiplayer gaming is about to
sweep not only the gaming community but
the nation as well. With the prices on
Internet-ready PCs dropping faster than Ally
McBeai's weight, Newell and the rest of Valve believe
the time Is ripe for a multiplayer game to enjoy a level
of popularity commensurate with that of television.

TEAM FORTRESS 2, Valve's first release following the
ground-breaking HALF-LIFE, could just be that game.

The Big Picture

The chief goal of TF2 is to get players to run with, to
work with, and to rely on their teammates. By provid-
ing the uniquely compelling social experience that true
teamplay inspires, and by designing a game that will
allow even casual players to succeed, the people at
Valve are hoping to launch TF2 to the top of the multi-
player heap.

Getting gamers immediately into the action is para-
mount, and to that end TF2 sports a WWII feel instantly
recognizable to anyone who's ever seen a war movie.

A large part of that comes courtesy of maps that really
play up the feel of small European towns and villages,
with cobblestone streets, narrow roads, snaking alley-
ways, and a plethora of prime sniping spots. Gamers
will choose from a variety of unique classes, including
field medics, rocket infantrymen, snipers, spies, and
remote commanders who aren't even on the battle-
field, to wage war together against teams of other
warriors.

TF2's gritty and realistic models utilize Intel's Multi-
Resolution Mesh (MRM) technology to create the most
lifelike avatars we've seen. These MRMs dynamically
scale back a model's polygon count at distances with
no discernible loss of quality. By scaling a 1,500-poly
model to as little as 400, MRM gives the artists the
opportunity to create highly detailed models — com-
plete with swinging gun straps and true 3D gear—
without putting a drag on frame-rate. The MRMs will
also allow gamers with less-robust machines to run the

■k COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • JULY 1999

www.computergamlng.co

game has scalable skill levels to ensure the form of rank-
that even the clumsiest keyboard player Ings and awards
will be able to succeed. But what's truly that might be car-
revolutionary is the way the game han- ried over to play-
dles the escalating challenges of its 40 or ers' online stats,
so levels. And while there

White the bots that solo fraggers will are no bosses per
face will increase in difficulty, they are se, the single-

not locked in at a preset difficulty level player game will
and will actually adjust dynamically to include six or

your skills. Beat a level and the bots on seven bots with
the next one will be tougher. Get stuck voices and defi-

long enough on one map and the bots nite characters

will very gradually dull their skills until that will taunt

they reach a point where you can beat you mercilessly—

them, while still being challenged. yet another moti-

Incentive to finish the game comes in vator for players
to finish the game.

. .*. ■

(GUERRILLAS IN THE MIST Volumetric fog will ' .
give some maps a tense, claustrophobic feel as
gamers are concealed from each other until

they're at point-blank range.

Battling the Bots

"The goal is to piss you off." Such is
the lofty aspiration of bot programmer
John Cash. "The trick," he says, "is to
do It without cheating."

Designing opponents to behave like
unpredictable humans is incredibly
challenging, so the temptation for
cheating is understandable. But Cash is
adamant that his bots not
cheat. To that end. he’s
zeroing in on creating
bots so human that they
don't have to cheat.

' ; How organic can true curved surfaces
make a level appear? How about this doorway, with its
giant lolling tongue leading to the fanged maw within?

game in a dynamically lower resolution to maintain a high frame-rate for them
as well. The model believability even extends to syncing the movement of their
mouths with the words of players' voices.

And voice support is a huge part of TF2's design. While real-time voice obvi-
ously allows for more detailed communication between players, it also is a vital
part of the social experience that Valve hopes to create. However, voice won't be
just a big sloppy open channel; instead, it will follow a command hierarchy, with
only comman-
ders permitted
to broadcast
teamwide mes-
sages. Squad
members will
normally be able
to talk only to
each other, but
they'll also be
able to broad-
cast to the entire
team with their
commander's
permission.

A fter tlie incredible experience of HALF-
LIFE, gamers are nmit iiuugiv

.■> 'i iKi.'i, While Valve isn’t saying much
right now, ••••.< if on goor „:-;iiorjr.y that a
small team of about five has already started pre-
liminary work on what may be the most hotly
anticipated sequel since WASCRAFT II, While the
scripted events and story mteraction were uite-
gral parts of HALF-LlFE's success, we're told that
those were little more than trial balloons for the
ambitious game elements IJ -Life 2 v. -i i;:,;- in
^ii. iiLlo, c.c:uo, and onUn'" n r We can’t wait.

In order to create believable adver-
saries, Cash is moving away from the
tiber-player style of other games' bots—
bots that never miss, always know where
you are, can suddenly increase their
speed, and so forth— to programming
bot tendencies across a wide range of
attributes that affect their behavior. Bots
will be rated in aiming skill, map knowl-
edge, long/short-range preference reac-
tion time, weapon preference desire for
armor, health level priorities, aggression,
hearing, and more. At any given moment
in a game the bots will analyze their sit-
uation and then decide upon an action
according to their attributes.

Since the ratings are all soft numbers,
the bots will enjoy distinct playing styles
while still maintaining a degree of unpre-
dictability. This allows you to adjust to a
bot's particular combat style while still
requiring you to watch out for unusual
behavior. For example, a bot who gener-
ally runs scared when injured may sud-
denly decide to take some extra damage
when it thinks It has a shot at finishing
you off.

The soft ratings also let the game cre-
ate bots that are challenging in a variety
of ways. Easy bots can be bots that never
miss but won't react until you're on top
of them, or bots who can always find you
but never hit you. The rating system
gives Q3A one other advantage: the abil-
ity to customize bots for practicing
against certain skill sets. It's still undecid-
ed whether tills will require editing a
text file or implementation tiirough a
menu system, but id is definitely leaning
toward allowing gamers to create a digi-
tal version of that jerk at the office who
always beats you.

Cash is abandoning the programming
tendency to plot bot movement across a
series of waypoints— a method that both
increases predictability and creates other
problems, such as bots that can’t handle
platforms. Instead, Cash's bots analyze

www.computcrgaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • JULY 1999 /.JS i

COVER srqny

UliiiXS H3VS3

the map and build data structures that
allow them to “think" of a map's rooms
and how to get between them; thus bots
are able to find paths rather than simply
follow them.

When we squared off against the bots,
we were impressed. Even in their early
state, the bots were tricky, using cover
and flanking to give one of our best play-
ers a real run for the money, even though
they were having a few problems dealing
with doors and buttons. But with more
attention from Cash and additional input
from John Carmack to improve the bot
tactics, Q3A's bots should be among the
best yet.

Wielding tKe Weapons

In keeping with Q3A's focus on refin-
ing gameplay, there’s nothing all that
revolutionary happening on the weapon-
ry front. The DOOM chainsaw is back, per-
fect for those up-close-and-personal
humiliation frags, while a machine gun
will serve as your default weapon after a
respawn. The firing rates and attendant
kickback of the grenade and rocket
launchers have been increased, while the
reload on the railgun Is now a little slow-
er. A slightly changed QUAKE-style light-
ning gun makes an appearance, the
hyperblaster has been revamped as a
plasma gun with explosive charges, and
the BFG is back and nasty as ever. The
most tantalizing possibility centers
around the potential inclusion of a flame-
thrower. We can only hope that this baby
makes it in.

One option we expect gamers to
embrace is the ability to customize the
color of their railgun and (possibly) rock-
et trails. While this won't give gamers the
opportunity to express themselves as

maps run the gamut, from wide-
open, rocket-friendly arenas to more
closed-in quarters with lots of hall-
ways and staggered levels.

fully as hale-life's

tags, the option of

immediately letting

your victims know

who's reducing their ^ '

skull to gooey pulp

can only be a good

thing.

The Playing
Reid

With every new
game engine, id has
delivered even more
impressive levels,
and Q3Awili be no
exception. In fact,
with the game's sin-
gle-minded multiplayer
focus the level designers seem to have
really cut loose in creating their maps.
Sure, they're all dressed up with specular
lighting, volumetric fog, and more poly-
gons. but it's the actual design of the are-
nas that will wow gamers.

Freed from the event-driven, linear
constraints of standard single-player
level design, id is pulling out the stops
with levels that run the gamut, including
towering multitiered structures, wide-
open arenas, and levels with different
physics. Circular and repetitive in nature,
the maps encourage the kind of frantic
running and constant conflict that make
for intense DeathMatches.

Lava pools and bottomless pits present
environmental hazards, but the accelera-
tion ramps and bouncing pads have the
greatest impact on gameplay as gamers
launch themselves across chasms and
over enemies.

In addition to ammo, armor, and health
power-ups, levels will hold haste and
invisibility power-ups, medkits that can
be carried for later use, and, of course,
the quad damage power-up. Use of these
power-ups will be broadcast to all play-
ers via an in-game "announcer" to help
ratchet up the tension and action. But if
you're the type of player prone to max-
ing out your armor and health, be
warned: Once either of these attributes
exceeds 100, it starts tidcing back down
immediately. Keeping players from
becoming virtually invulnerable makes
everyone a ready target and keeps the
action moving.

So How Does It Play?

Dizzyingly fast, widcedly brutal, and
just flat-out gorgeous, QUAKE III: ARENA Is
a better game in a beta state than many
games sitting on store shelves. The game
plays at a scorching speed more akin to
QUAKE than QUAKE II, and the wildly
imaginative level design only enhances
the sense of mayhem.

' Translucent energy

- ' webs will distinguish

players who've
grabbed power-ups
like invulnerability or
. the quad damage.

Among

the levels we played, two were real
standouts. One was a cramped one-on-
one arena, choked with a toxic green fog.
While the drifting haze definitely
enhanced the visual appeal of the map, it
also created a claustrophobic feeling of
dread and uncertainty, since you didn't
know where your adversary was until he
was right in front of you — or until a rail-
gun stream ripped through the murky air.
A ledge above the fog held the quad
damage, and I'd grimace every time I
heard the booming announcement that
my opponent had just grabbed it, know-
ing that he was out there, hidden in the

Ct'iLjLji

Valve's aim here is to avoid clutter-
ing bandwidth with a cacophony of
voices and to prevent the game
from turning into a 900 number
with guns.

And if the TF2 developers have
any bottom line in mind, it's the
game's social experience. Over the
next several months the designers
will be observing TEAM FORTRESS
CLASSIC closely, seeing what works,
what doesn't work, and how the
rules change according to the num-
ber of players. One observation has
already led to a significant addition
toTF2 — after watching more-expe-
rienced players literally stand over
the shoulders of newbies and offer
advice, Valve added the Coach role.
Coaches will be heard only by a spe-
cific player in the game and will
appear as a glowing ball on that
player's screen, allowing the Coach

/SO \ COMPUTER'CAMING WORLD • JULY 1999

www.computergaTning.com

Three character

classes in QUAKE III: ARENA will let
gamers pick avatars that suit their play
style. On the left is the light model, a fast
character with little armor; in the center, a
more balanced model with more armor
but less speed; lastly, there's "Tank Jr," a
model with lots of armor but a slower,
bigger target.

mist, hunting and probably lugging around a rocket launcher to boot.

But it was a larger level designed for four to eight players that really
showed off the promise of this game. It featured a large platform suspended
in space, with a multi-faced bouncing pad at its center. On each side of this
square platform was another floating surface, far away and far above it. Each
of these peripheral platforms had accelera-
tion pads that would fling you just far
enough to reach the center again. Never have
i experienced such swirling, exhilarating
action in a shooter, rocketing through the air
at neck-snapping speeds, colliding violently
with other players hurtling the other way, or
tumbling through space, trying to get a bead
on the guy firing at me from below as I plum-
meted wildly toward his platform. It's a per-
fect example of the kind of brain-squeezing,
pulse-pounding level design that hard-core
gamers live for.

So is Tim Willits right? Has id created "the
most perfect OeathMatch game?" Judging
from our hands-on play-testin g, Mr. W illits
may Just be on to something.

Feel the Love

'ere at CGW:.-

without the

Xj.empty boasts of gearhead Dave Salvator or the helpless, girlish
squeals of chronically fragged wargame editor Terry Coleman. But how
doyouvr^nsrrn v-- mimicking the

multiplayer experience? To that end ix)th QUAKE III; ARENA and
UNREAL TOURNAMENT are j r .nii:. to both reward and

ridicule players. Q3A will provide sporadic play by play of the action
with a throaty "Impressive! " congratulating a great shot or a cruel
"Denied! " to note less happy accomplishments. UT has a similar mech-
anism, announcing players (and bots) as being on a "rampage" or a
"killing spree" after racking up a series of kills. But it goes beyond Q3A
with bots that sneer, "I slaughtered that guy! ” “Is that your liver over
there?" and other unpleasantries after cutting you in half. UT's couple
of dozen taunts will be Ji' -l-rbleTf ;:.!! ;c..; .witlijusta

coupleofmouseclicksallowinggamersto;/';..;:^ '■•.'ii .i- ..i

to offer a corrtinuous stream of direction and even lead the silenced pistol. Interface issues will be explained as well,
active player through the map. eventually even teaching players how to bind macros to

hot-keys.

For gamers hungry for more practice or who lack
modems, TF2 can be played with bots. For most maps, play-
ers can practice taking orders from an Al commander or,
alternatively, lead a squad of bots to victory.

Battling the Bots

Steve Bond, the Al guru behind
the vicious enemies in HALF-LIFE,
will be working on bot Al forTF2.

The Single-Player Experience

While it won't provide a single-player game per se, TF2
will feature boot camp-style training missions for every
character class, introducing more complicated game ele-
ments gradually. For example, a training mission
for a spy might require the player to disguise
himself, infiltrate an enemy base, then shoot a
spedfic enemy in the back using the spy's

head CASE TEAM

FORTRESS 2’s MRM tech- WS '

nology lets them reduce ■

character polygons on the .

fly to maintain high frame- -n- -K''' •

rates. The shot above

shows a highly detailed, 1,500-poly model, while the
shot at right shows a 400-poly model that will be used
at long range, though it looks as good as the best mod-
els in other games. In the final shot you can see the
character in the game environment and how the high
detail complements the game’s gritty, realistic feel.

;aa

www.computergaming.c

COMPUTERCAMINC WORLD 'JULY 1999 i 81 i

Continued on Page 85

Raytheon Aircraft

■Moonvy Aircraft t'ur|)iiia(l(iti

Flying can be a spiritual experience.

Especially with your life flashing befot'e your eyes.

Realistic Weather Patterns. Real-time storm
systems with ever-changing factors, such as
fog, lightening and icing.

Unparalleled Geographic Detail. With panoramic
vistas and detailed landmarks, 3D graphics have
the highest resolution of any flight sim — ever.

It’s dusk. Approaching runway 2-lcft, a dangerous storm system is dead ahead. 'I'hree planes
circle, with a 737 on your right wing and a 777 just behind you. A flash of lightening. Thunder.
A jolt. A downdraft. Your ATC signals you’re off course. Do you bank left.? Or continue your
approach? Experience the true feel of piloting your own aircraft as you take

the controls in the most realistic flight sim ever. You’ll learn all the skills

of flying through pulse-quickening challenges. While soaring o\er awe-

some terrain, attempt daring rescues, mountaintop landings — and of course.

takeolTs and landings in every possible conditittn. Flight Unlimited III. A real scat-of-your-pants
flying experience. \\ here the next decision — could be your last, lo learn more about taking
off with I'light Unlimited HI, visit www.fliglit3«com

Blueprint Quality Aircraft. Bcechjet 400 A, Mooney
TLS Bravo, Lake Renegade 270 Seaplane, Stemme
SlO'VT Motorglider, Muskrat Seaplane, Trainer 172,
Piper Arrow, Twin Engine Windhawk, P51D Mustang,
and Fokker Tri-Plane.

Interactive Air Traffic Control. Real-world
operation provides continuous interaction
with the ground and other aircraft nearby.

r THE DIREQOR'S CUT OF THE HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAl

GRAND THEFT AUlp IS^NO# ON SALE.

SHOPUFTERS WILL BiPROSECUTED.

"A deep, addictive, naughty game play experience/'

- Naxt Generation

‘^g^«>l22'j9»w\^x6pipute^aming.copj/infolink

"Best game soundtrack."

— PC Corner

'Beneath contempt.'

- UK Police Federation

"Controversial, hip and louder
than a Spice Girl in a blender."

- GomesMansion.com

This is the original, oncut, full version of Grand Theft' Auto, fully tricked
out with the all-new GTA London: 1969 Mission Pack. It's more fast cars,
more dangerous streets, and more cops .to outrun and outwit than ever
before. Now you can tear through three of America's toughest cities, plus
the mean streets of London, leaving a trail of mowed-down mercenaries,
hired killers, and rival gang members in your;V •
outlaw wake. All of the wild, car chaj^laction ,
of the original is here, times. Kvo. Pletise,' while '
it may be tempting, just don't steal thf$ game. • .

Published by

D c r T;r®to ■ r'' 1 1 t I

"Stomach-turningly perverse*''

- PC Format

Continued from Page 81

Team

, Fortress 2

(cojinnue(I)

Basically, the Al will be based on a learn-
ing design, in v\ditch the artificial com-
batants learn from their mistakes and
successes. For instance, an engineer bot
will build sentry guns and then track the
amount of time until each is destroyed,
how many kills it achieved, where the
enemy is, and so forth. After building
sentry guns in a variety of locations the
bot will pick the best location for its
defenses almost every time.

This learning Ai is interesting because
it wilt be incorporated into every play-
er's individual game as well, charting
their success and offering suggestions
onscreen to improve their play. As play-
ers improve, the ghost bot will offer
fewer and fewer pointers.

Teams will be able to practice against
teams of bots, and bots can be used to
round out teams short on members.
Should a new player log on, one of the
bots will drop out to make room; con-
versely, players who drop out of games
will be replaceable by bots.

Wielding the Weapons

Unlike other games, TF2 designs
around roles, not weapons. This means
that while there are various types of
weapons, players will be limited to those
tied to their class. The idea is that by

MEAN STREETS House-to-
house fighting in war-tom vil-
lages means potentially fatal
confrontations can be just
around the comer.

ensuring everyone has something they
do well along with some significant
weaknesses, they'll motivate players to
work together, again underscoring the
social nature of the game. Heavy
infantry will wield enormous chainguns
that are deadly at long range, while the
light infantry's submachine gun will be
devastating in close quarters. Weapons
and abilities that run counter to team
play (such as the TEAM FORTRESS CLASSIC
medic's Infect ability) are being scrubbed
from the TF2 game design.

While the weapons are intended to

Unreal

Tournament

Can the World’s Prettiest Shooter
Frag With the Big I

ir^n

POP TOP Zoom and boom,
baby. The sniping rifle is one of
UT's nastiest weapons, with a
scalable zoom that lets you
zero in on your target before
' blowing his head clean off.

es, UNREAL was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. But
the only eye-candy that die-hard deathmatch
devotees care about is the sight of an oppo-
nent's biood greasing the fioor. With its poor
network performance and a multiplayer experi-
ence that never quite satisfied, UNREAL death-
matching was skewered by critics. Gamers sim-
ply stuck with the solo game, UNREAL's multi-
player failing to capture their hearts and trigger fingers
even on those rare occasions when they could get an
online game to run more than five minutes. Saddled with
such a lackluster legacy, you've got to hand it to Epic
Games' developers for taking on the challenge of making
the UNREAL line a contender in the multiplayer world.

The Big Picture

UNREAL Tournament hopes to blow away gamers' lin-
gering reservations with fast, thunderous gameplay— a
style of play lacking in the original. The game can be
played at a default speed that is fairly swift, but the truly
ambitious will have the option to play at a much faster
"hardcore" setting as well as the dizzyingly fast
"turbo" rate. In addition to upgrading the speed,
players can adjust settings to increase the effec-
tiveness and damage capability of bots in prac-
tice matches.

The violence quotient has been
ratcheted up as well, with every
successful hit accompanied by
copious sprays of blood. Slain ene-
mies go limp, then delicately spin
and flutter to the floor, but we sus-
pect that gamers will be more
entranced by the special death ani-
mations, which are like nothing
else in gaming. Score a killing
blow to an opponent's head and
you might rip 20 pounds of need-
less flesh from your victim, leaving
a twitching, ned-bleeding corpse
that will linger on its lifeless legs
before crumbling to the ground.
Unload a flak cannon in an
enemy's midsection and you could
be treated to the happy sight of
your foe torn into two gut-spewing pieces. A wide variety
of death rattles and tortured cries further enhance the bot-
slaughtering experience.

The Single-Player Experience

While UNREAL tournament forgoes the traditional,
story-based single-player game, it does have a sort of

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD 'JULY 1999*' 85'.

COVER STORY

Team Rainbow is back In full force. Rogue
Spear, the sequel to PC Gamer's 1998 Action
Game of the Year, immerses you even deeper in
the explosive action of an elite multinational
strike force.

Rogue Spear feels so real, you'll be yelling
'Tango Down I' in your sleep for weeks. And
the multiplayer action is to die for. Remember,
when stalking the enemy: Walk softly but strike
like a thunderbolt. You only have one shot to
save the world.

NEW REPLAY FEATURE
NEW MISSION EDITOR
FULL SNIPER SUPPORT
EIGHTEEN NEW MISSIONS
JOYSTICK SUPPORT
TERRORISTS MORE REALISTIC
AND LETHAL THAN EVER

n Gaming

ZONE

Go to #121 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

WWW . redstorm . com

Team Fortress 2

(cojitinucM)

mimic real-world arms in order to create intuitive
play, they aren't by-the-letter
recreations — this would yield
bazookas that would kill practi-
cally everyone on the map.

Still, the weapon modeling is
more realistic than that found
in a game like UNREAL
TOURNAMENT: Bazookas shoot
out dangerous backflash, and
every gun has an optimum fir-
ing rate and distance.

Finally, in another teamwork-boosting feature, squad leaders
will exert an effect on their squad members within a certain
area: Squaddies will enjoy an improved firing rate and accuracy
when they stick close to their leaders.

The Playing Field

The 20-odd goal-oriented maps to be included in TF2 are worlds
beyond anything in Team Fortress classic. While the enhanced
level of detail and volumetric smoke add all the eye candy gamers
could want, it's the goals and play structure that will make these
some of the most insanely addictive battlefields ever.

Yes, TF2 will support Capture the Flag play, but it's in the
other map types that lead designer
Robin Walker thinks the game will
shine the most. In Hunted, one
gamer is the highly vulnerable
leader, trying to run to safety

HUNKERED DOWN Bunkers
such as this will reward players in
two ways: They'll protect them
(especially snipers who must
kneel and not move when firing),
and they'll provide a stable plat-
fonn on which heavy-weapons
units can rest their massive guns
for maximum effectiveness.
Storming the bunkers, obviously,
won't be so easy.

while a squad of bodyguards protects him from a team of assas-
sins. A variation of this game takes place in a Middle Eastern
palace where both teams struggle to kidnap the Leader.

The liberal use of vehicles such as tanks and attack jets adds
texture to the battlegrounds, but gamers won't be able to actu-
ally operate them, instead, some maps will allow commanders
to call for these support troops.

A few of the new maps almost make you feel like you're also
responsible for a real-time strategy game. In Conquest, opposing
armies fight over resources such as oil drums, converting
retrieved resources into items to support the war effort.
Commanders have to choose what they need to win. Should
they build armor facilities to generate heavy infantry, or a facto-
ry to produce markers for air strikes? Should they build defen-

Unreal Tournament

(continued)

MORTAL KOMBAT-with-guns
premise. Players are participants in
a sweeping Grand Tournament in
which only one survivor will be
crowned Grandmaster. Play will
include standard deathmatches
with either a time or frag limit as
well as three team games: Capture
the Flag; Domination, in which
teams compete to hold positions
on the map, accruing points the
longer they hold them; and Assault, in
which your team first assaults an objec-
tive and then must hold and defend it.
Each game will have a series of about 10
increasingly difficult levels. Once each
ladder has been beaten, gamers will
compete in a super-challenge death-
match to earn the title Unreal
Grandmaster as well as the privilege of
' using a special character mesh that will
then be unlocked — perfect for a nice lit-
tle intimidation edge in online play.

Wielding the Weapons

Among the criticized aspects of
UNREAL were the plinky weapons, some
of which sounded as if they were shoot-
ing dimes, not devastating rounds. No
one's going to be able to say that about

It’s Not the Bullet That Kills You. It’s the Hole

W hile each of these games is at its heart a first-person shooter, different jjiay pliilosophies are
reflected in their assortments of weapons. Q3A's more up-close-and-personal feel is perhaps
best indicated by the reintroduction of the chainsaw, allowing gamers to imjjale their victims and
watch them dance on a spinning tread of flesh-chewing metal. Straightforward and brutal, Q3A's
railguns, super shotguns, and machine guns are all about shredding meat and moving on.

The biggest challenge UT faced was overcoming the unimi>ressive weaponry in UNREAL. To
that end, the game designers tossed out a fair number of the weapons in favor of new guns that
pack some serious punch. Weapon noises are much louder than in UNREAL, and weapon effects
have been beefed up as well. The UT leaf doesn't fall far from the UNREAL tree, however: The sig-
nature eye candy of the original title is present, especially in the whiz-bang alternative-fire attacks
of the weapons.

TEAM FORTRESS 2'.‘3 Stated goal of recreating the look and feel of an epic war movie has led the
designers to arm the game's characters with immediately recognizable, instantly understandable
firearms. By removing any doubt about the weapons' abUities, the designers at Valve hope to
diininisli the learning curve so that gamers will be able to dive right into the action. Actually,
deciding on TF2’s arsenal has more to do with play balancing than anything else — each class’s lim-
ited weapon set has particular strengths and weaknesses, requiring gamers to take on different
roles and strongly encouraging teamwork.

UT. Without exception, every UT
weapon (each with an alternate
attack) is bigger, badder, and
louder.

it starts with the default
weapon, the impact hammer. A
portable jackhammer on steroids,
the impact hammer is as vicious
a melee weapon as you'll ever
find, pounding a victim's head to
jelly with one shot. The ultimate weapon
in the game is the Redeemer, a devastat-
ing, kill-'em-all missile launcher that can
be guided around corners, through corri-
dors, and up stairs in its alternate mode.

Weapons carried over from UNREAL
have been beefed up as well. The
Razorjack is back as the even more sinis-
ter, blade-spitting Ripper (firing explosive

PEEKABOO No, it's not a
clipping problem. Some of
UT's levels feature hidden
rooms, perfect for sniping
and ambushes — not that
this shielded minigun-bear-
ing killer needs the help.

blades in its
alternate-fire
mode), and the Eightball reappears as a
more straightforward Rocket Launcher.

Aside from the arsenal, UT sports
other handy items. A shield belt sheath-
ing the bearer in a shimmering golden
matrix effectively doubles your armor
rating. An invisibility power-up lets you
move around unseen — until you fire your
weapon and spent casings, muzzle flash.

www.computergaining.coin

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • JULY 1999 j <>

C O V E R ' S T O R Y

B, ine. ® and des^ atn Irademaite o(, or licensed to, Sierra On-Une, Inc., Bellevue, WA 98007. All rignis reserved. RELD S STHEAM® is a Registered TrademarK of rmes Mm

His camo-painted truck and
"kiss my bass” bumper sticker are the

ONLY ENDORSEMENTS YOU’LL EVER NEED.

Last jear, 1.5 million rcal-liie

L>ass assassins like Mr. Buddy
Jackson o f Tupelo, A\ ississippi
gol dragged rigkl oiil of flieir koats
ky Tropliy Bass™.

So just wait 11 you see tlic new
PIEI.I) & STRPA.M® Tropliy Bass™3D.

It gives you first - and lliird-per-
son lisliing in a full 360" on 15 pro tournament
lakes. More than 30 tail-llirasliing species,

including walleye, inuskie and trout.
Eye-popping 3D action. A new
underwater kurcCam™. And, you
can kook up for wild Internet tour-
naments.

Need more kait? Visit

retaile^,

'a 11 (son) 757-7707,

Jr juiuj) online.

WWW.TROI'llYUASSsD.COin. TllI.S IS FOR RliAI..

Go to #180 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

Team
Fortress 2

(continued)

sive wails, or a satellite tracking
system to monitor the enemy?

But the best part promises to be
the campaigns. Made up of a series
of three to four maps that can be
played through in about an hour,
campaigns put teams on opposite
sides of an epic, ongoing conflict.
For example, the Invasion campaign
begins with an Omaha Beach sce-
nario, as an invading team struggles
to reach a safety zone behind
enemy lines. The defenders gain
points the longer they keep the
offensive team from the safety
zone; the invaders score by getting
men to the safety zone and destroy-
ing bunkers along the way. In the
following map, the invaders work
their way across a countryside,
destroying bridges, railroads, and
power lines that the defending
force tries to protect. In the final
map, the sides are switched; the
invaders have seized a small,
European-style village and are pro-
tecting a vital bridge. The new
defenders are given a minute to
position themselves in the twisting
streets and small buildings of the
town before the liberators arrive.
With no single chokepoints, the two
sides wil! engage in brutal, WWII-
style house-to-house warfare before
the inevitable showdown at the
bridge.

Finally, a wargame for action fans.

So How Does
It Play?

God, we wish we could tell you.

Despite our pathetic pleading,
Valve didn't have a playable ver-
sion of TF2 available during our
visit. But countless hours spent on
TEAM FORTRESS CLASSIC have us
drooling over TF2. The
experience of playing the ni

Hunted, with a swarm of ^

angry red sniper lasers C

swirling about the ***

Leader's head, is unbeliev-
ably intense, and the
heady triumph of a team ^

victory is somehow signifi-
cantly more rewarding ^

than a straightforward
deathmatch. qj

With months of play*
testing and balancing a- XI

head of it, T F2 can only be ar

even better.ZSZC? m:

Unreal Tournament

(continued)

and direction of fire give away their
position. The sound dampener is an aural
cloaking device that allows you to move
silently.

The coolest of all the special items is
the transiocator, a personal teleportation
unit that is a default item in both flag
games. The transiocator is a two-part
device, one a marker, the other a trigger,
Drop the marker wherever you want, then
use the trigger later to instantly teleport
to the marker. While the transiocator has
obvious value as a virtual escape hatch
for a firefight gone bad, its greatest value
is in games like Domination— simply tag a
Domination point and use it to recapture
the objective immediately after it's taken
by an opponent. The transiocator can also
be used to instantly reach towering
precipices. When fired into the unsuspect-
ing hands of an enemy, it can deliver a
nifty telefrag as well.

The Playing Field

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the levels
in UT are uniformly gorgeous. Dazzling
light effects and complex architecture
retain the surreal UNREAL flavor while
serving up lots of wide-open areas perfect
for frenzied free-for-alis and providing
plenty of sniping positions. The locations
of the maps are wonderfully diverse; tow-
ering castles floating in space, mining
facilities, and
one Assault

map that takes ^

placeona

moving, high- p^- !L"

speed train.

But the hands- - , v

down, undis- *

puted coolest

map is one of the zero-gravity levels
that takes place inside and on top of ;
a Millennium Falcon-type spaceship
hurtling through space.

So How Does
It Play?

is it better than UNREAL multiplayer?
Undoubtedly, and this in a beta stage. The
action is fast and furious at the normal
setting, but a few of the CGI/V staff found
the hardcore play to be too fast. Turbo
mode was impressive from a tech stand-
point, but virtually unplayable. The speed
on the higher settings can get annoying
on the many maps that feature lots of
bottomless space — it was almost impossi-
ble not to throw yourself off the catwalks
into space on the castle map.

The weapon mix was fun, if not particu-
larly intuitive. Over the course of the
game's development we've been
impressed with the improvements in
weapon effects and balancing. Where
before some of the heavier weapons
seemed to come out on the losing end of
a firefight, at this stage the combat feels
just about there. All the weapons pack a
satis^ng punch, blasting opponents
badcward and hurling them high in the
air. And taking off someone's head with
the sniper rifle is just a moment of tran-
scendent bliss, surpassing similar one-shot
sniping weapons in STARSIEGE: TRIBES and
HALF-LIFE.

The bot Al at this early stage is pretty
strong, with the mouse-driven order
menus effective at directing your virtual
squad in the team games. While there is
still some tweaking to be done, the bots
are already relentless and certain to give
you a run for your money. If Unreal
TOURNAMENT can shed the somewhat
negative baggage of its precursor, it
should be well set to go toe-to-toe with
the o ther mu ltiplayer titles releasing this
year. B3^

The Final Word

S o who will the likely winners be when these games ship later this year? We give the edge
to QUAKE in::ARENA and TEAW FORTRESS 2, with TF2 likely to have broader appeal. The
die-hard QUAKE community makes Q3A's success a no-brainer, and by focusing on just one
style of game and doing it as weU as it can be done. Q3A seems poised to corner the death-
match market. That same singularity of focus could work slightly against it, though, as it will
dffer gamers a fairly limited playing experience. TF2’s cooperative play, robust voice support,
and game design that allows gamers who generaUy don’t excel at shooters to succeed (not to
mention the game's association with Valve and HALF-LIFE) should give it a very broad appeal.
Epic is doing a ton of things right mxh Unreal to: L;Namsnt, and the game’s catch-all philos-
ophy is coimnendable, but it's going to be awfully hard to topple the QUAKE dynasty or to com-
pete with the gamer lovefest Valve currently enjoys. Without the gritty feel or play balance of
TF2, its team games may likely be perceived as little more than glorified deathmatches. With
an earlier launch than its competitors, UT ’.vill hr.ve to hope it captures enough gamers early to
make the other games seem irrelevant.

www.compulergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • rULY 1999

Online Gaming Gets Personal With

Voice-Over Internet

“Check your six! Check your six!”

You hear the voice of your wingman screaming at you in the
headset. You yank the stick just in time to see a stream of
tracers cascade past your cockpit. You check your speed, pull
the stick up, and do a high yo-yo, which puts you right on
the tail of the Me-109 that tried to perforate your Spitfire.

The eight .303 Brownings

by Loyd Case and Dave Salvator

make short work of the

enemy plane.

This may have sounded
like any AI wingman
speaking to you, but
it was in fact anoth-
er human. That’s
the kind of differ-
ence voice commu-
nication software
can make.

R2D2 can be seen
in the movie Star
Wars Episode I:

The Phantom
Menace.

His previous work
includes Sfar Wars.

The Empire Strikes
Back. The Return of the
Jedi. and Fire Hydrant Number 2
in My Life as a Dog.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL FALCONER

CM]

, COMPUTER GAMING WORLD •JULY 1999

w.computergaming.com

Playing games over the
Internet has put a premium on
typing skill— people who type
faster can more quickly com-
municate with human oppo-
nents or teammates. But with
the upcoming generation of
voice communication software,
typing skill becomes superflu-
ous, and a whole new social
element is layered on top of
multiplayer gaming.

During testing, we wound
up on a TEAM FORTRESS
CLASSIC (HALF-LIFE) server
where we found ourselves out-
gunned by our anonymous
opponents on the Canalzone2
map. Yet we managed to hold
our own pretty well — because
we could work as a team, and
talk to each other.

None of the packages
reviewed here work perfectly,
but even with their flaws, the
increase in efficiency of team-
work was astonishing. We
took a look at two shipping
voice-comm packages —
Shadowfactor's BattleCom and
ThrustMaster's Talk n’ Play —
and Roger Wilco, which was
still in beta.

Of the two shipping prod-
ucts, BattleCom worked much
better for gaining. It's a
sophisticated voice-comm
package that’s also well suited
for conferencing. Thrust-
Master’s Talk n’ Play seems
more exclusively geared for
conferencing. Roger Wilco
looks — er, sounds — very
promising. But as with any
product that requires band-
width over the Net, your
mileage will vary.

www.computergaming.com

Shadomrfactor

BattleCom

A ^ A A y

PROS: Compressian settings can be easily leaked;
voice qjality good.

CONS: Bleaks up in some games; setting compression
ratios can be conlusing,

RBQUlBtMENTS; Pentium 200MMX or beiiei.

Price: $24.95

Manufacturer: Shadowfacior
www.shadowfactor.corn

B attleCom started
life as Battlefield
Communicator, but the
new name is an easier
mouthful. BattleCoin's
strength and weak-
ness is its tweakabiiity. There
are numerous voice compression settings, not
to mention arcane settings like "Record
Guardian Enable." The downside of this fine
level of control is that it's often confusing if
your sound card and microphone setup don't
quite match up with the defaults. If you have
a fairly standard PCI audio card, you should
be okay. The HTML help file is fairly complete,
though I would have preferred a real
Windows help file so I could more easily
search for problems. There's still good, hyper-
linked information, and the troubleshooting
section will be useful.

And you will he troubleshooting if you
haven't had any experience in voice commu-
nication. One thing most newbies do is
uncheck the microphone playback box in the
Windows mixer so they can hear the sound
of their voices. It sounds cool, but you don't
want this turned on. One very useful tool
buiit into BattleCom is the test tool, which
simulates an Internet voice session using just
your audio setup.

Once you're up and running, you can either
connect to a BattleCom server or host a ses-
sion yourself. The latest version of BattleCom
allows the client software to host a session on
its own; prior versions required access to a
system running BattleCom server software. For
most casual gaming use, the
peer-to-peer sessions possible
with the BattleCom client soft-
ware work well. BattleCom will
also work over a LAN using the
IPX networking protocol; further,
it has a feature that allows you to
invoke it from within ICQ, a popu-
lar Internet connection monitor

and conferencing application.

Once up and running, BattleCom does
what it's supposed to, providing there's
enough bandwidth. To avoid hours of frustra-
tion, it's very important that you correctly
answer the questions in the wizard when
you're installing BattleCom. Voice quality
does drop with higher compression rates,
since there's only so much you can squeeze
through a thin data pipe. We had varying
degrees of success, depending on the game.
Turn-based and even real-time strategy
games worked well (on a Pentium 11/450), but
in HALF-LIFE sessions we experienced
dropouts severe enough to require a "say
again" pretty often. Then again, HALF-LIFE is a
very network-intensive game at times.
EVERQUEST, a massively multiplayer game,
yielded varying results— more positive than
negative. AiR WARRIOR worked very well, but
Air warrior's been tuned over the years to
work with slow modems, so it leaves some
bandwidth for voice comms on a 56-Kbps
modem. Note that if you're hosting a session,
you do need to feed your IP address to the
other users.

l*nion yvM S£tur)^

SlapSwttyi j OmStufen |

D 3

"IswaHai'iGtealOOT. ft WX

ThrustMaster
Talk n’ Play

A -k

PROS: Good headset included with package; large
built-in community; good audio quality.

CONS: Poor game compatibility; clumsy Ui on
PeopleLink application.

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 133MHzCPU.

Price: $19.99

Manulaeturer: ThiustMastei
www.talknplay.com

T hrustMaster isn't exactly a household
name when it comes to audio. But
they've put together an interesting package
called Talk n' Play (TNP), which is billed pri-
marily as a way to jabber on the Net.
ThrustMaster has a tie-in to PeopleLink, a
huge online community, and this connection
provides a large built-in
initial play group you can
connect to.

TNP is based upon
Intel's Multi-Point Audio
technology, and it allows
up to four people to con-
nect at once. It’s different
from the other voice-
comm packages in that
much of its interface for
starting a conference is
Web browser-based, although using the
PeopleLink application you can add your
gaming buds to your list and start a session
with them if they're connected. We found
that TNP works quite well for online chatter,
with very good sound quality, but the People-
Link application proved to be awkward at
times, kind of like a poor man's ICQ. We also

tIIt

found that TNP fared the worst of the three

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD • JULY 1999 . 91 j

n t e r n e t A u d i

packages for game compatibility.

TNP can access your sound card using
either Wave or DirectSound mode; we tested
first using the latter mode, figuring it would
enable TNP to more easily share sound card
resources. It turned out that neither mode
allowed TNP to function alongside all our test
games.TNP connected fine in all instances
before getting into any of the test games, but
in Half-Life, for example, once the game
started we lost the TNP connection. The one
test game where the connection remained
was FIGHTER SQUADRON, where TNP per-
formed adequately. Another minor downside
to TNP is that it requires an Internet connec-
tion in order to function, since the initial con-
nection must be made either via the TNP Web
site or through the PeopleLink server, so LAN
play is not an option.

ThrustMaster may have figured that since
Intel's Multi-Point Audio could access the
sound card via DirectSound, TNP would natu-
rally work well with DirectSound games. But
it appears that they didn't do much play-test-
ing with audio-intensive games before ship-
ping the product. The result is substandard
game compatibility, which, coupled with
TNP's somewhat clumsy user interface, keeps
Talk n' Play out of the winner's circle.

Preview of
Roger VUilco

PROS: Very simple to install; vety clean
user ffllerface.

CONS; Still beta.

REQUIREMENTS: Pemium 200MMX oi better.
Price: J24.95

Manufacturer: Resotindirg Technology
www.rogerwilco.com

6333

R ege workt Ike many d the gamer youl US

ivelh one perron Crealet a chamd andleb
other lo Jon hirt) at Hr IP addren

Charme! | Ttanohl | Adjust j Liceme | About j

Kerlhg a channel at }?55l020072 ^

hick [

Hete [

R oger Wilco was still in beta at the time of
our testing, so we didn't rate it. It's sim-
pler to install and set up than the other two
packages here, but some of the complexity is
merely hidden. For example, some games
require you to edit a configuration file called
GAMES.TXT, whereas BattleCom provides a
point-and-click interface integrated into the
software for the same function. Wilco has no
compression settings — the program either
works with a single form of compression or
auto-adjusts to your link.

Roger Wilco also doesn't require a server,
but if you host a session, you need to supply

your IP address. One feature lacking in the
beta we tested was the loopback test that's
part of BattleCom — with Roger Wilco there's
no real way of knowing whether your con-
nection is working until you try to make a
real connection.

Game performance was something of a
mixed bag. HALF-LIFE once again demonstrat-
ed that it's a bandwidth-hungry game, and
voice communication broke up in heavy ses-
sions. AGE OF EMPIRES seemed to work just
fine. EVERQUEST exhibited the oddest behavior:
After about a half hour of gameplay, the voice
communication slowly degraded until it was
unintelligible. Only restarting both the game
and Roger Wilco seemed to fix the problem.
Roger Wilco's performance over standard ana-
log modems seems mixed, too, with good
results in less demanding games but signifi-
cant problems in bandwidth-hungry titles.

Like BattleCom, Roger Wilco supports both
"push to talk" (PTT) and voice-activated
mode. While talking in PTT mode you have to
press and hold down a key on the keyboard
(both programs default to F12),'niis emulates
the behavior of real two-way radio communi-
cation, and a lot of flight sim jockeys love it.
Voice activation is just that— when you talk,
the mike detects it and becomes active. This is
the preferred mode for 3D shooters and strat-
egy games.

Still, this is beta software, although it
seems pretty solid for a beta product. At
$24.95, it's the same cost as BattleCom.
The trade-off is simplicity versus features.
We'll revisit Roger Wilco when it ships, but
we're very encouraged by what we've seen
so far.

Houir We Tested

T esting these packages involved many arduous hours of multipk
used multiple games with each package. We tested using I
EVERQUEST, AIR WARRIOR, and AGE OF EMPIRES. We also looked at

T esting these packages involved many arduous hours of multiplayer gameplay...er...testin 9 . We
used multiple games with each package. We tested using HALF-LIFE, FIGHTER SQUADRON,
EVERQUEST, AIR WARRIOR, and AGE OF EMPIRES. We also looked at each package's ability to hinc-
tion over a local area network (LAN) and took a look at its ability to support multiple protocols (all
support TCP/IP, and BattleCom supports IPX). We then tested over 33.6-Kbps modem connections to
force the apps to function in a narrow data pipe to see how'd they fare. Next, we took a look at how
easy it was to configure the audio settings, as well as how easy or difficult it was to get a session
going. And finally, the hard part: play-testing during multiplayer games to see how well the packages
cooperated with our test games.

Getting

Blather-Ready

S etting up voice communi-
cation requires some
understanding of the
Windows mixer. When you first
pop up the mixer, you normally
see the playback mixer. You
want the microphone muted in
the playback mixer — otherwise,
you hear yourself talking
through your headphones or
speakers, which can cause
annoying feedback. Bring up
the recording mixer (see screen
below). You do this by pulling
down the Properties menu on
the Mixer menu. You'll get a
window that looks very similar
to the playback mixer. Make
sure the microphone record
volume is turned up at least
halfway.

. Once you've got the mixer
properly set up, you need to
configure the voice-comm soft-
ware.

5- 7^'

i-tl i-t.i

1 1 H

UnrnKMT

Wilco’s is simpler, but you don’t
have the ability to force any
configurations. All the products
go through a microphone test
phase — make sure this test
completes successfully.

If you’re the host, you'll
need to let the other partici-
pants know your IP address. If
you’re using a dial-up account,
your IP address will change
every time you log on to the
Internet. You can get your IP
address by clicking on the
Start menu, selecting Run, and
typing WINIPCFG. Then you
can email the IP address or
transmit it another way, such
as via ICQ.— Loyd Case

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ‘JULY 1999

F-22 IIGHTNING 3

featuring

ncncu NUCIEAR WEAPONS*

Also featuring Voice-Over-Netiv - Talk with over 120 other pilots daring intense NovaWorld online multiplayer comhal

niovALOGir

www.novatogic.com BOO.BS8. 13SS

Alow playing on NovatVorld

M Hitt a MM frit trial iHuloqtKmWaVspmiiin savict.Wc»-Om-lklhivttlaMDalycnNmiVodi.ei9S9lla«>lagie.liK.Nna(qicaadtt(Kovilj|icl>((nrt|isteMln4enad].VMa-{>i«-NtlN<viW^

Go to #127 @ www.computergamlng.coin/infolink

MOHOtITH

♦»;4f:

j^H^^HjimSH&l

Meet Maya, a junk scavenger from the second shell,
surviving on the discarded remnants of the Chosen,
inhabitants of the shell above. When ships of war loom
over Maya’s homeland, she must face her destiny and
overcome more than man and machine. She must

overcome her own fear.

Septerra Core: An adventure of epic proportions.
Coming this Fall to your PC.

!)M!(

i DtClARtP tvtmtiitvo KOra

rvoiiKOdcuA "tvo-nuotvc"

BEDROOM

ND-FLY ZONE

Call (888) FALCON-1
www.falcon-nw.com

HARDWARE

IN SEARCH OF THE ULTIMATE GAMING MACHINE • REVIEWS • KILLER RIGS • NEWS

Yet Another Laptop With the Gamer in Mind

Micron Takes Gaming Mobile

Y ou're a road dog. You live in 737s. making puddle-
jumps on business so often you could proba-
bly land the damn plane if called
upon. And despite your hectic
schedule, you still find yourself
with thumb-twiddling time
while en route to your next stop.

If only that laptop could play 3D
games... Sound familiar?

Mobile PC gamers have been
locked out of the 3D gaming party until
recently. But thanks to a few new
laptops, 3D gaming has finally
arrived for the mobile set.

Micron, with their TransPort
NX, is the latest to join this
club, coupling good 3D gam-
ing performance from ATI's
Rage LT mobile chipset
(based on the Rage Turbo Pro) with 4M8 of
video memory, a 366MHz Pentium II, a DVD player,

128MB of RAM, and 14GB of hard-drive space, all for
about S3,700.

ATI's Rage LT — the chipset that finally made 3D gaming really pos-
sible on laptops — also shows up in mobile offerings from Dell and
Compaq.

We took a beta unit of Micron's new NX for a spin, and were
encouraged by what we saw. Graphics drivers were still a bit
shaky, which resulted in some crashes, but hey, that's why
they call it beta. Running QUAKE 2 at 640x480, the NX was
very smooth, and gameplay flowed well.

But almost as cool as competent 3D is the ability to
watch DVD movies. How many times have you boarded
a five-hour flight, only to find out
the in-flight movie was going to be
something toothless
-r— like My Giant? W\th the

onboard DVD, you can
watch whatever movie you
want to. Eat it, Billy...
Micron was in the latter
part of their beta testing of
the NX at press time, but stay tuned
and as soon as it goes final, we'll bang on
It with 3D GameGauge 2.0 and see how it fares
versus the big boys on the desktop . — Dave Salvator

Take a silly tchotchke (the gas mask
from FALLOUT 2), an even sillier product (the UR Gear
Helmet), and hold an intern at gunpoint, and this is what you
wind up with. And what Jesse doesn't realize is that this setup, in addi-
tion to warding off Jehovah's Witnesses, makes a great contraceptive.
Go get 'em, Jesse.

INSIDE HARDWARE

Killer Rigs 108

3dfxVoodoo^ 111

AMD K6-3 CPU 114

Interact FX Driving Controiier 116

ThrustMaster Fusion USB Gamepad 116

Game Commander 116

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

From Slowpoke to
Screamer

Free (or at Least Really Cheap)
Ways to Keep Your Rig Humming

L et's face it: PCs are more complex than ever. This is especially true if you're a hard-core
gamer, since you've most likely got a big hard drive, perhaps Voodoo’ SLI, a fast primary
graphics card, a 3D positional audio accelerator, and an Internet connection. Keeping the
whole thing well tuned is enough to make you want to become a Trappist monk.

So it's time to revisit performance tuning. I'm going to take you down some side streets and
examine some free— or nearly free-ways of maximizing your performance. I'll try to cover
each area individually, then look at the whole enchilada.

Graphic Image s

When’s the last time you updated your drivers? What? ! Okay,
march to your computer, log on to the Web, and download the latest
set of drivers for your graphics hardware, it's amazing how much of a

difference this can make. This is especially true if you have a recently
released card. (There's a syndrome called driver du jourlhax happens
every time new graphics or audio technology is released.) Before you
install those spanking new drivers, though, make sure you set up your

When running 3D graphics on a fast PC, play around with
the refresh rate a bit at a particular resolution. Depending
on the game and your system, this can make quite a differ-
ence in frame-rate. If your graphics card is just missing the
next scan line, then it could cut your frame-rate by as much
as 50 percent. Note that the sweet spot for the refresh
rate may vary according to resolution, game, and color
depth. If you want a single number, 6OH2 works most of
the time, but it's pretty hard on your eyes. A few accelera-
tors, such as 3dfx cards, allow you to differentiate between
3D refresh rates and Windows 2D refresh rates.

system for VGA, then reboot. Otherwise, all the old driver files may
not be replaced.

If you want a fairly cheap and easy way to play around with
your graphics card
settings, check out
Powerstrip. You
can download a
shareware version
from www.entech-
taiwan. com. It
enables you to
play around with
a plethora of set-
tings, and even I

It's also a good Idea to turn off the screen
saver. Be aware that there's actually more
d>an one screen saver In Windows 98.
There's the normal screen saver that dis-
plays weird animations, and then there's
the power management saver that shuts
off your monitor. Both can interfere with
gameplay. There's nothing more discon-
certing than having your monitor shut
down just as you're trying to repel a Zerg
assault in STARCRAFT.

mm}

allows you to alter the clock rate of your graphics chip (but do
take great care in doing this — you could render your system
unbootable with the wrong setting). One nice feature is the ability
to set refresh rates for all resolutions without having to actually
switch resolutions.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

^.CDmputergaming.c

SnphisbiCHLed PerFornonce.

Engineered inside and out, this

ThR Hinlll'lRU
nnilRII-llIZRI' GmiC:

ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE VEHICLE IS

EQUALLY AT HOME ON THE

irljl TEST TRACK AS IT IS ON
* ^ TATOOINE. OPTIMIZED FOR

Customize your
own graphics, man.

SPEED, ALL WEIGHT
IN THE FORM OF

NEEDLESS SAFETY FEATURES

HAS BEEN THOUGHTFULLY

Cuphoiders? Maybe

REMOVED. THIS STYLISH you should |k looking

f From Watto’s rubbish
pile comes the horse-
power that could save
the galaxy. Reworked
and rewired by Anakin Skywalker
himself, you’ll soon discover that even
from an early age Darth Vader had
a truly sinister sense of design.

NO-DOOR DEFTLY COMBINES
DROP-DEAD GOOD LOOKS

WITH A SET OF MODIFIED Digtel dMays^
all vrtal information.

RADON-ULZER 620C RACING

If you dare look down.

ENGINES, VIRTUALLY GUARANTEED TO
SHATTER YOUR NEIGHBORS’ WINDOWS.

Desert Wind Tan

EndlnR

Radon-Ulzer 620C

Engine Length: 7 meters
Fuel: Tradium power fluid
Repulsorllft altitude: 105m

I'BrEnmniiEB

Max. speed: 947 kph (588 mph)
Braking:

Triple Scoop Air Brakes
Quarter Mile: 1.53 seconds

EBHB T|||]B

Top Speeds of 600 mph

PC 1-8 players

3-D Hardware Acceleration

rBBhBPBB

Number of Podracers 21+
Worlds 8

Number of Tracks 22

Upgradable Parts

llBZflrUs

Scorching Lava Tunnels
Meteor Showers

Tusken Raiders

IIbbEbbLs

www.starwarsracer.com

Afterbum

You - struggling to
keep your lunch down.

Teietneti - y cmn f ntter calculates pressure and
temperature algorithms while sustaining
stresses many, many times those of
your typical laptop.

Air scoo ps

Sure, they look cool.

And, unlike most vehicles,
they actually do something.

Throttle letters
Caution: Do not use
these to brace yourself.
You’ll only go faster.

Control Linkag e
= chariot racing at 600 mph.

UlIU UR SRRII Tflfi IlnulG: You’ve seen the movie umpteen times. Now fire up the
Podracer. In 8 worlds, on 22 tracks, there is no other racing experience like it out there.

Tatooine Night Sky

Starfigkter Qlow

Emerald Mist

To discover for yourself how LucasArts has thoroughly redefined the
driving experience, visit your local LucasArts dealer. Or reward yourself
with an exhilarating test drive at www.starwarsracer.com

www.starwarsracer.coni

www.starwars.com

The Sound and the Fury

Like graphics accelerators, the new generation of 3D audio accelerators Is much more sophisticated than past sound cards. The result has been something
of a driver-du-jour phenomenon there, too, though not quite as drastic. Still, check to see if your drivers have been updated. For example. I've seen a steady
drop in the CPU utilization of the Diamond Monster Sound MX300 over several driver releases. Creative Labs is steadily introducing new features in their dri-
ver updates, so those are worth a download, too.

Stalus j £0 j Config MIDI | A3D Demos ] Ptefe/ences |
-Wavetable-
EHectl

PecJsOn

If you have an MX300, bring up the MX300 control
panel. Click on the MIDI tab. See how it's set for 320
voices? Change that to 64 voices. The Vortex2 audio
accelerator on the MX300 only supports 64 hardware
voices — the other 256 are software only. In reality, it’s
the rare game that supports MIDI these days, but you
never know. If some of those software voices ever kick
in, it's a performance hit.

Alsa make sure that audio acceleration is enabled. You can do this
in the multimedia control panel, under die Audio tab. Click on the
Advanced Audio Properties button under the Playback heading.
Under the Performance tab, make sure that hardware acceleration
is turned up and that sample rate conversion is turned down.

Platter Chatter.

Before you read any further, go to your PC,
turn it on, and defrag your hard drive.'iou
can use the Windows 98 defrag utility. If you
happen to have Norton Utilities, and you use
Norton Speedisk, you can set it up to move
your files around for optimal startup. But the
important thing is to simply defrag once a
month or so.

If you've been using Windows 98 for a
while, you may notice that your disk drive will
start thrashing like a freshly caught catfish at
seemingly random intervals. It's disconcerting
to say the least, and a serious performance
drag at times. There are actually several
potential causes for this.

First, if you have Microsoft Office 95 or 97
installed, make sure you remove the Fast Find
utility from the startup folder. Fast Find peri-
odically indexes the hard drive so it can
search for files faster. Unfortunately, I've seen
Fast Find do this at really inconvenient times.

Another possible cause of disk thrashing is
that Windows 98 will occasionally grow or
shrink the swap file (virtual memory file)
according to some mysterious algorithm that
seems to depend on the alignment of the

planets. You can stop this from happening by
setting the maximum and minimum swap file
sizes to the same number. A conservative rule
of thumb is to set it to 2.5x your installed
memory — though if you have more than
128MB, 1.5 to 2x is more than enough. This
will create a permanent swap file that won't
grow or shrink. After you've done this, and
then rebooted, you'll want to defrag one
more time. Note that if you have two physical
hard drives, putting the swap file on the sec-
ond (non-boot) hard drive can also speed up
access to virtual memory. Do not do this if
you have a single physical drive with two
partitions.

Finally, one other culprit is Windows 98's
disk cache. In the old days, you had SMART-
DRV, but that's long since been replaced by
VCACHE. VCACHE is a program that caches
hard-drive data in system memory.
Occasionally. VCACHE can get pretty big. This
can have two simultaneous adverse effects.
First, you have less memory for your pro-
grams. Second, the disk will begin to thrash
as VCACHE gets big and programs are forced
to swap to virtual memory. One solution is to

limit the size of VCACHE. You do this by edit-
ing the file \windows\system.ini. Search for
VCACHE — you'll probably find it as a header
with no entries underneath. Ideally, you'd like
VCACHE to be about one-fourth of your sys-
tem RAM up to 64MB, If you have more than
64MB, leave it at 1 6MB. The key is to make it
a fixed number for minimum and maximum.
Add the following two items underneath the
VCACHE heading:

IVIinFifeCache=16384

Max FileCache=1 6384

Do this only if you have more than 1 6MB
of system RAM.

You may want to play around with this set-
ting a bit over time— but remember that any
memory that VCACHE uses isn't available for
your programs. On the other hand, if VCACHE
is too small, you'll notice more disk activity
every time you load your system. If you're
curious, you can monitor your VCACHE behav-
ior with a cool tool called VCMon, which you
can download from www.sysinternals-
.com/vcmon.htm.

i/.computergaming.<

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

MEDIUM

HARDCORE SYSTEMS FOR HARDCORE GAMERS

Award-Winning Micron '' Millennia^ Systems. Now available with the New Intel^ Pentium^ III Processor 550MHz.

Model Nsme

Millennia MAX 450

Millennia MAX 500

Millennia MAX 550

Processor

Co die

RAH

Herd Drive

DVD/CO-ROH

Hodem

Graphics

Sound System

Speakers

Warranty

Inlel Pentium III pioccisor 4»HHa

S12KB Internal 12 cache

64HB lOOHHi SDRAM

a.ACB Ultra AIA Oi hard drive*

6X vat. SDced DVD-ROM drive

3Com USRobotics V.BO WlnHodem'*

IdMB nVidia AGP graphics

PCI 128-volce Wavtiable sound

Advent AV009 Speakers

5-ytat/3-year Micron Power" limited warranty
3-year on-sile service limited warranty

Intel Pentium III processor SOOMHz

SI2KB internal 12 cache

64MB lOOMHc SDRAM

B.4GB UltraATA 66 hard drive*

6Xvar. speed DVD-ROM drive

3Coin USRobotics V.90 WlnModeir"

16MB nVidia AGP graphics

PCI 128-vplceW3vetable sound

Advent AV009 speakers

5-ye3t/3-year Micron Power" limited warranty
3-year on-slle service 11 mi led warranty

Intel Pentium HI processor SSOMHa

S12KB Internal 12 cache

126HeiDOHHa SDRAM

tSGB 72DO RPM Ultra ATA 66 hard drivt*

3Com USRobotics V.90 WlnHodem’ '

16HB nVidia AGP graphics

Sound Blaster UVE! Value audio card

Advent AVOflS speakers

b-year/3-year Micron Power" limited warranty

3-year on-site service limited warranty

1-year free® training ® Micron U online

1-year free® Italnlng g Micron U online

l-year free® training g Micron U online

Software

Included

Microsoft' Windows' 9S

Microsoft Works Suite 99

1-yeat Earthlink Sprint lotstAccess*"

Microsoft Windows 98

Microsoft Works Suite 99

Norton Antivirus

1-year Earthlink Sorint TolalAccess*’

Mferosaft Windows 93

Microsoft Works Suite 99

1-year Earthlink Sprint TotalAccess**

Also Includes:

104-key enhanced keyboard

Microsoft InlelliHouse'

3.5' floppy drive

104-key enhanced keyboard

3.S" floppy drive

104-key enhanced keyboard

Microsoft InlelMMouse

3.5' floppy drive

SuperOlik 15-120

Direct Price
vrithout monitor

SI 0 AQ ‘39/mo.

Micron CoKSumei
' Credit Card

48 mos-i

SI COQ Wmo.

4e»10S.>

Micron Consumer

I CieditCard

43mps.i

Upgrade to:

I28MB lOOMIIa SDRAM

Upgrade to:

128HB1O0MH7 SDRAM

Upgrade to:

AV009 3-pIece speaker system

t3GB Ultra ATA U hard drive*

17" Micron 700C« (15.9" display) monllor

ISGB UltraATA 66 hard drive*

17" Micron 700Cx (15.9" display) monitor

2DGB Ultra ATA 66 hard drive*

17” Micron 70(Kx (15,9" display) monitor

Direct ^Price
with monitor

$1 lAQ ‘51 /mo.

|,/4^ Micron Consumer
• CiedilCard

4Smos.i

SO rtAQ ’59/mo.

Hicron Consumer
f Credit Card

43nios.'

SP 400

Micron Consumer
» CreditCard

48mos.'

The Critics Rave

Newt

Breakthrough Prices on Powerful Millennia Desktops.

If you live for gaming you owe it to yourself to play on thi
greatest PC out there - the Micron Millennia. Everything
about these speedsters is designed to maximize power,
minimize cost, and give you the competitive edge. The
Millennia offers Intel's latest Pentium III processor and is
designed with Micron's new computer chassis - making
the Millennia not only a gaming powerhouse, but

also one of the most expandable PCs you can buy today.
And, you get a one-year free' subscription to Micron
University, an incredible new online training tool, and 1
year of unlimited Earthlink Sprint Internet access®" paid
for by Micron. When you choose Micron, you're getting
more than a powerful system - you're joining the
gaming elite. So if you want to play hard, play on a Micron.

RQoray 5 ^ddD©©d

^®®D©o"

CONFIGURE EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT AND ORDER DIRECT AT

WWW.MICRONPC.COM OR CALL 1-888-669-0969

Talking to th

The best thing you can do to improve
your performance when connected to the
internet is to make sure your ISP
(Internet service provider) has a fat pipe
to the Internet. A provider with redun-
dant T3 lines, for example, will yield
much better performance than an ISP
with a single T1 line. Sometimes it takes
a little research to find out what your

e Big Pool

ISP uses, but it's time well spent.

You connect to the Internet using the
TCP/IP protocol. If you're still running
Windows 95, one of the key issues in the
way Windows 95 handles dial-up TCP/IP
connections is an arcane parameter
known as MaxTMU. Changing this
involves editing the <shudder> registry.
Alternatively, you can download the cool

shareware utility TweakDUN (Tweak
Dial-Up Networking) from www.patter-
sondesigns.com/tweakdun/. It is share-
ware, though, so if you find it useful,
make sure you pony up the 15 bucks —
it's a small price for this useful tool.
Another piece of freeware that fills the
same role is PPP Boost, which can be
found at www.hotfiles.com.

Other Tuning Tips

There are a few other things you can do
to help system performance. One is to
remove all the files that are created in the
temporary folders. I once found 9MB of
data in \windows\temp and 1 0MB in
\temp. That's a lot of disk space for files
that have only been used once.

While we're on the topic of disk space,
also check the space reserved for Internet
temporary files. You can do this from the

[GloCiorijMetiy(C:)! Mfiq9li:r>n

•" C'^nlKjurscfiive^inflgp'snd'snily
: US0i5W9CrtoglOrsllt)(lvs» .

lilqs In ’hp 8ecycl9 6h Removs

Miie <U< I hlrtf Kid iwibtr

P '■.ijnliirHo'ion dialog box

1“

Another space hog is the good old recycle bin.

If you right-clid( on the recycle bln, you can
change the setting for the amount of disk space
reserved for the recycle bin. If you have a big
drive, set this to 2 or 3 percent.

Internet control panel. The temporary file
property sheet is one of the first listings
you see.

For best gaming performance, you never
want to have anything running in the back-
ground. Unfortunately, Windows 98 sets up
a lot of programs to AutoStart when you
boot the system. Virus checkers, in particu-
lar, tend to interact badly with games, if
you have a virus checker, you may want to

deactivate it during gameplay,
then turn it back on when you're
done. Another problem-child
background app can be monitors,
like those loaded by Norton
Utilities or Nuts and Bolts. Take
special care to deactivate crash-
protection software while playing
games. They work pretty well
with standard Windows applica-
tions, but a game is a differ-
ent beast altogether.

Finally, if your system has
bogged down incredibly and
nothing you do can perk it
up again, you may be at
the point where you'll
need to do a clean rein-
stall of Windows. I don't
have the space to cover
it in detail here, though.

Note that you don't need
to reformat your hard drive, but you
do need to boot to the DOS prompt
and remove the Windows directory.
But before you do that, back up any
email files — especially if you use
Outlook 98. Also back up your
"favorites" folder (if you're an
Internet Explorer user), your
dial-up networking settings,
and your password (.pwd) files.
Then make absolutely sure you
have all your latest drivers and
applications install CDs,
because you'll need to reinstall
everything from scratch, You can save
some effort by copying \win95 or \win98
(depending on your operating system of
choice) from the CD to the hard drive.
That way. you can run setup right from
the hard drive. It may be useful to do a
refresh install first. That is, run Windows
setup from within Windows. Sometimes
that will do the trick, especially with
Windows 98.

C\VMfJDCrx^;Va5t.inoii
C \WirJDOWS\SYSTBM\DrspDil e.e
r, \pnof.rviw Fn.E£\c.v(OPus\ouiai-_

C\BioriioinFiiei\C(eeiiive\SBU'e\Aijtl.oJ
Ruridllj’ e>p pcwTpiotdil Lo9<JCuiienipi«£«
C \PRCGRAM PLE:\R£AL\FlA1En\F.E-*'
Bunriil32 ‘i-e pwpipr rtll Loaaauier.-i:%^iS".
0 \WIMD0WS\S'r?1EM\mstask fa
C \PROGRi\~ 1 \COMMOin \ADODE\CAL

c\ouici:£NVDillwinde:iE ^

-i-r-r-

What Windows 98 taketh away, Windows 98 can give
back. Run MSCONFIG, and you can easily uncheck items
you don't want loaded.

At this point, you've had a taste of
the things you can do to improve
your rig's performance. There's a lot
more information available on the
Net and in other Ziff*Oavis computer
publications. I've found ^ese Web
sites to be useful;

www.tweak3d.net (3D graphics
cards and other great tweaks)

our^|d.compuserve.com/home>
page^lhelmig/faq.htm
(Windows 95 networking FAQ)

www.koan.com/~dwhr/perfor-

mance.htmi

www.annoyances.org/win98/

And finally, a little shameless seif-
promotion;

www.gamespot.com/features/pc

workshop/

COMPUTER GAMI NG WORLD » JULY 1999

x.compulergaming.com

DEMONSTRATION #2

1 Tear out your old sound card.

2 Smash into pieces.

3 Toss over your shoulder.

The sound those pieces make when they hit the ground atlaroundyou is you is the
powerof A3D from Aureal, the only audio that works the way your ears do.

That's why leading sound card vendors, such as Diamond. TerraTec. Turtle
Beach, and Xitel, are using Vortex audio technology from Aureal, the only 3D
audio accelerator that supports industry leading A3D positional audio technology.

You can also find A3D positional audio on computer models from the industry's
leading PC manufacturers.

Audio based on Aureal technology is awesome. But don't take our word for it.
Believe Your Ears. Check out A3D at your local retailer.

BELIEVE YOUR EARS"

Visit us at www.A3D.com

0199S Aureal Semiconductor, Inc. A3D and Aureal are Irademarks of Aureal Semiconductor Inc. Other trademarks are properllea of their respective owners.

LEAN « MEAN

COMPONENT

Motherboard

PRODUCT

ASUS P2B-F

PRICE

$140

THE SKINNY

Back to the future.

CPU

Pentium III/500

S693

The current fastest gun in the West.

Memory

256MB of CASa Corsair PC100 SDRAM

$405

Just think, a quarter-gigabyte.

Disk Controller

Adaptec 2940u2w

$349

80MB per second.

Primary Graphics

Hercules Dynamite TNT

$130

Stability, speed, and cooling.

Secondary Graphics

QuantumSD Obsidian X24

$349

The ultimate, single-slot Voodoo^ card.

Floppy Drive

Teac

$20

You still have to have one.

Hard Drive

Seagate Cheetah 13

$955

It's big, it's fast, it's loud. ..two out of three ain't bad.

Backup

Iomega Jaz 2

$300

2GB of backup.

Hard-Drive Cooler

APS Technologies drive cooler

$40

Cool it, baby.

CD-ROM/DVO

Pioneer 6x SCSI DVD

$249

New Pioneer slot-drive DVD.

Monitor

Sony F500

$1,600

Perfectly flat. Just perfect.

Primary Audio

Diamond Monster Sound MX300

$89

For four-speaker DirectSound, A3D, and EAX,

Speakers

LFT-11

$500

Beautiful imaging, clean sound.

Rear-Channe! Speakers

Jamo CS-5

$500

Ultimate rear-channel powered speakers.

Modem

Copper Rocket DSL modem

$400

DSL at last.

Networking

3COM Etherlink 10/100 PCI

$70

For fragging my buddies.

Case

In-Win Q500 full-tower ATX

$115

New improved model.

Power Supply

Turbocool 300

5129_

More power, Scottyl

Keyboard

Logitech Newtouch

$45

In with the Newtouch, out with the Natural.

Mouse/Pointing Device

Logitech Cordless Wheel Mouse _

$59

No tether!

Action Game Controller

ThrustMaster Fusion Digital

$25

Comfortable controller with USB.

Flight Joystick

ThrustMaster F22 Pro

$129

It just feels right

Throttle

ThrustMaster TQS

$115__

More control than anyone needs.

Rudder Pedals

ThrustMaster Elite RCS

$79

Nearly perfect foot placement

Driving Controls

ECO p5 4000

$1,129^ _

For the serious sim driver.

■ TOTAL

$8,619 )

COMPONENT

PRODUCT

PRICE

THE SKINNY

Motherboard

Abit BX6 rev 2.0

$140

Five PCI slots, Softmenu, 440BX-— ready for Pentium ill.

CPU

Celeron / 433

$175

Effeaivelv the same as a PII/400.

Memory

128MB Corsair PC100 SDRAM

$202

128MB at last

Disk Controller

Built-in UDMA/33

Primary Graphics

Hercules Dynamile TNT

$130

Stability, speed, and cooling.

Secondary Graphics

Guillemot M3xigamer2

$99

Voodoo^ lor those Glide games.

Floppy Drive

Teac

$20

Still gotta have it

Hard Drive

Western Digital Expert 9.1

$229

7200rpm from Western Digital.

CO-ROM/DVD

Pioneer DRU-704

$69

Yeah, it’s got a trav. But it's fast.

Monitor

OptiQuestV9S

$445

Solid 19-inch monitor at a budget price

Primary Audio

Diamond Monster Sound MX300

$82

A3D and clean audio for under a C-nole.

Speakers

Boston Acoustics BA-63S

$99

Went back to my favorites.

Modem

Diamond Supra 56e

$106

Solid performance, good price.

Networking

N/A

Case

EianVitalTIO-AB

$82

The case for upgraders.

Power Supply

Built-in, 235W

Keyboard

Logitech Newtouch

$45

In with the new, out with the Natural.

MouseJPointing Device

Logitech PS/2 Wheel Mouse

$18

Better than its 'gaminq' mouse.

Joystick

CH Gamestick 3D

$55

Still the best-balanced flight stick around.

The Fine Print: All recommendations based on actual evaluations. Prices listed are I

average low quotes from Web price search engines like www.computershopper.com or www.pricewatch.com. — Lists compiled by Dave Salvator and Loyd Case

COMPUTEK GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

v.computergaming.c

WeCa nTALK^

ATTENTION ALL INTERNET USERS:

Start talkin’

Talk n’ Play is the best way to speak with up to four people over
the internet. Combine that with 25 Internet games from World
Opponent Network and a sweet headset and you’ve got internet
gaming, baby!

So now you can connect with your family and friends and
challenge them to a game of Poker, Golf or Red Baron, even if they
live thousands of miles away! r%i • ■

Start Playing!

25 INTERNET GAMES * 4 PERSON INTERNET PHONE • HEADSET / MICROPHONE

www.talknplay.com

THRUSTMASTER n rostered tisdsmaik ol TniustMasler, Inc. Talk n‘ Play is a Iiadomaik ol TtiiusIMasler, lnc.WeCanTalk.com is a

Go to #1 1 1 @ www.computergaming.com/infollnk

What Should
You Bring To The

|Ultimate

I^eathmatch?

How About The

Ultimate

on.

‘t

'I,

The

essential
Quake HI Arena

weapon is here. Tweaked for the ultimate gaming experience, the
Viper V770 is haded with the blazing new NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra,
AGP 4X power, 32-bit rendering with 32-bit Z/stencii buffer and
32AAB of memory. So while you're throwing everything you've got at
the enemy, the Viper V770 is hurling nearly 9 million triangles at the
screen every second. It fuses speed and visual quality to power the
most intense graphics of today's online gaming experiences.
So no matter where you battle, bring along the latest artillery.

■ • a,.

O'"""

> ■■

V770

Wreak Havoc with the Ultimate 3D Weapon

•ens/rd, md Mufn U SoHtrj/f, hK. All Wghls KnmtA

DIAMOND

MUlTIMtPIA

WWW. diamondmm. com

VOODOO^ 3000 AGP • REVIEW

Voodoo^: Fightin' the Good Fight

A Bit Feature-Limited Maybe, But Slow It Ain't

by Loyd Case

here's something to be said for
mature technology, and 3dfx is say-
ing it loud and clear. The company's
S20 million ad campaign, which touts
its new Voodoo^ chipset (and targets
general consumers rather than game
geeks), is getting a lot of attention. All the
noise does distract a little from the realiza-
tion that Voodoo^ is probably the final
chapter in the book that was Voodoo
graphics. 3dfx's next architecture will entail
a pretty serious redesign.

Voodoo^ is, in essence, a Voodoo
Banshee board with two rendering
pipelines running at 1 43MH2 or better. We
looked at the 3000 model, which clocks in
at 1 66MHz. (We'll take a look at the
Voodoo^ 3500, which runs at 1 83MHz, in
next month's roundup,) All Voodoo^
boards — models 2000, 3000, and 3500 —
ship with 16MB of RAM. Model 2000 lacks
TV out.

The dual rendering pipelines behave the
same way as a pair of Voodoo^ boards in
SLI mode. In addition, the high clock speed
makes for some serious 3D performance —
as 3D GameGauge numbers show. Voodoo^
is no slouch in this department. So in a sin-
gle AGP slot, you have Voodoo^ SLI perfor-
mance, pretty decent standard 2D
(Windows) performance, and the ability to
run Glide games very, very fast. OpenGL
and Direct3D games also perform well with
Voodoo^,

When you open up the package, the first
thing you see is the heat sink, which looks to
be roughly the size of Manhattan, and covers
more real estate than just the chip. The soft-
ware bundle is quite good, too: full versions
of UNREAL and NEED FOR SPEED III, a coupon

for UNREAL TOURNAMENT, and an extended
demo version of DESCENT III. Finally, there's
3dfx Tools, which puts a lot of control into
the hands of users (and has a slick user
interface).

But there are limitations. There's no option
for 32-bit rendering and there's no memory
configuration larger than 16MB. In addition,
Voodoo^ can't do AGP texturing. This was
apparent in the 3D WinBench 99 test, in
which Voodoo^ couldn't run at a resolution
of 1600x1 200x1 6. The Hercules Dynamite
TNT, also with 16MB of RAM, could run at
that resolution— albeit slowly. It's possible
that the 3000 could have run 3D WinBench
at 1600x1200 if it had 32MB of RAM, but it
doesn't.

So Voodoo^ Is fast, but the competition, in
the form of nVidia'sTNT2 and Matrox's G400
Max, among others, will give Voodoo^ a run
for its money. 3dfx has no real alternative to
the feature sets of its competitors: all it cur-
rently has is Voodoo^ — its version of a
stripped-down Dodge Charger with a 440-
cubic-inch engine. Stiil, the technology,
though older than the competition, gives up
nothing in raw performance.

Thirty-two-bit rendering won't start to
become a big deal until QUAKE 3: ARENA
ships later this year, and that game will likely
be followed by other titles that need 32-bit
rendering capability. But 16-bit output still
looks good in current games, and for these
games Voodoo^ definitely delivers. 233

computer' 1

A ^ ^

PROS: It’s fast and it runs Glide.

CONS: Feature-limited, no 32-bit render-
ing, only 16MB frame buffer, no AGP tex-
turing, no OpenGL ICO.
REQUIREMENTS: Celeron, Pentium ll/DI
or K6 system with AGP slot.

Price: S)79(M5RP)

Menufaaurer: 3dfx

www.3dfx.com (support ham www.stb.com)

Performance Benchmarks

WinBench 99 Business Graphics WinMark (1024x768x32)
Voodoo! 3000 (166m) 180
Henules Dynamite TNT 1 77

3D WinBench 99 (I024x768xi6)

936

3D GameGauge at 800x600

Voodoo33Q00{166mil 196.1 '
Hercules Dynamite TNT 142.3

104.S .92.6 109.B 138.4

H*89!S*^~82.V^3T'i^2.o 505

[forsaken ^■incoming ^■TUROX ^■QUAtXll

Motorhead (1280x10 24x16)
Voodoo! 3000 (mm)

Hercules Dynamite TNT

The Fine Print: Tests were conducted on a Pentium III
SOOMHt system with an Intel SE440BX2 motherboard, 128MB
SDRAM, aVortexZ sound card, and EIDE storage components.

.Y 1999

v.computergaming.com

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JUL'

GAME LIKE ND OTHER

B ungle 'SaitwarB, the cempany that rewrote the rules for strategy games with Myth and Myth
introduces Dni, an actinn game that will redefine the nenre. As Kunnkn. yau'll fight through hui
futuristic 2D environments using a grnund-hreaking cnmninatinn ^gnplay and hand-tn-hand
cumhat tn defeat hundreds uf devinus nppnnents. From yuur first ttt tn yuur last kick, surviving
Oni's high-tech wnrid nf crime and deceptiun will take everything ynu've gnt.

Cnming this Fall fur Windnws'' and Mac*DS.

Far screen shuts and additlnnaj infarmatinn visit nni.bungie.cnm

BUNGTE

I trademark of Bungie Suftnara Products Corporctoii AS uDiir Irademerks art ifit property si their respettw ownen. 1993 Bungie Softktre Products Corpsrotiofl. AS rights reserved.

Go to #109 @ ww^.computergamlng.coni/infollnk

REVIEW • AMD K6-III

; Aiming High

K6-III Guns for Pentium III, but Offers No Price Advantage Over Intel

I by Da'

by Dave Salvator

laying second fiddle is just no damn fun.
But having to watch the number-one
guy repeatedly get all the glory (and the
girls) can be a powerful motivator, Such
has been AMD’s plight in the CPU busi-
ness. But 1998 saw some very important
gains for AMD, the only X86 maker really will-
ing to take on big kahuna Intel in all ranges of
performance. One advantage AMD's K6-2 has
held is that it's been a solid performer that
could be had inexpensively, and it's delivered
good, though not market-leading, performance
for games. But AMD lost nearly $1 04 million
last year, and it needs to reverse its fortunes;
as a result, street prices at press time for the
new K6-IIIS were about the same as for the
Pentium III at the same dock speed.

But given that K6-1II doesn't clearly
outperform Pentium 111, and that there's
no longer a price advantage, it seems
AMD doesn't have a very compelling
case to make with gamers.

So what's new in the K6-III?

Basically, this part has its Level 2 (L2)
cache integrated into the chip core,
which allows the cache to run at full
processor clock speed. Perhaps more
importantly, the L2 cache now runs on
a backside bus, so it no longer has to
share bandwidth with system memory,
as in previous AMD parts. However,
despite this improvement, K6-lll's float-
ing-point unit remains unchanged from
K6-2, and so AMD is still dogged by a
traditional weakness in relation to
Intel: floating-point performance, which
is key to making 3D games purr.

Integer performance (whole numbers, like
24) is important for business apps, and mat-
ters for gaming as well. Floating-point per-
formance (numbers with decimals, like 3.14)
is extremely important for 3D games, since
the triangles in the 3D pipeline are first
processed in the CPU’s floating-point unit.

And finally, a relatively new consideration is
SIMD (single instruction multiple data)
floating-point performance, which Intel and
AMD have in the form of SSE and 3DNow,
respectively. SiMD floating-point allows the
CPU to handle more data per CPU cycle,
thereby speeding up 3D performance. Of
the three, traditional floating-point perfor-
mance still matters most, since that's what
nearly all current 3D games use and need,
SIMD floating-point performance will matter if

Performance Benchmarks

WinBench 99 CPUMark99

WinBench 99 FPUMark

Am K6-HI450

3DWB99 Transform
AMDK6-III450
450

3DWB99 Transform and Lighting

AMD 450
Pentium 450

Number Crunch

When looking at CPU performance,
there are three areas to examine.

COMPUTER^

GAMIMG

-WORLD

PROS; Solid integer performance; good
performance boost with BDNow.
CONS: No real price advantage over
Pentium III; floating-point performance
still trails.

REQUIREMENTS: K6-lll-compatible
motherboard.

COMPUTCR GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

3D GameGauge @ 640x480

AMDK6-III450
Pentium III 450

Quake II Time Demo

AMDK6-III450
Pentium III 450

Quake II Crusher Demo

Pentium III 450 27

Jhe tint Print: Both systems tested mVi t2SMB oftOOMHi SDRAM. RIVA TnT-basedgrephlcs
(aids wming nWrCa's Detonator driveis, Voiteit2-b3sed sound cards, and CIDC storage comfio-
nents. All tests ran at SAOxdSO to rmitanypossdilebottienecb'ng by the graphics card. Pentium
III was tested on an Intel SUaOBX2 motherboard: the K6-III was tested on an ASUS PSA.

and when many games begin taking advantage
of it, which may happen later this year.

In our testing, AMD outscores Intel on inte-
ger performance, probably due to K6-lirs
onboard L2 cache. But on traditional floating-
point performance, Intel still clearly outpaces
AMD, which means on games with ever-grow-
ing triangle counts that don't use SSE or
3DNow, Pentium til will get you more frames
per second. Lastly, on SIMD floating-point per-
formance, the results tend to favor AMD, whose
score on 3D WinBench 99's Transform test was
well ahead of Pentium Ill's, This test measures
how fast triangles get transformed (moved
from frame to frame of animation) in Direct3D's
Transform and Lighting (T/L) engine. Next, the
T/L test measures how fast triangles can be
transformed and lit using D3D's T/L engine.

Here the result was too close to call.

This is where things got a little weird. Given
Intel's faster floating-point performance, we
expected Intel to outperform AMD in game
tests, and yet K6-III outpaced Pentium III run-
ning 3D GameGauge 1.0, which left us scratch-
ing our heads. But then we noticed that on
QUAKE II (which has the highest triangle count),
Intel bested AMD. So we fired up several newer
test games with higher triangle counts, and
here AMD's floating-point unit ran out of gas
versus Intel. So while K6-I1I can hold its own on
older games, Intel still wins running newer
games with higher triangle counts.

Yeah Well, Wait Till
Next Time...

AMD does respectably versus Intel in this
round, but their second-class performance on
traditional floating-point tests still keeps the
crown out of reach. AMD's upcoming K7 will
have a re-architected floating-point unit that
could well put AMD over the top. For now, K6-
III is a competitor, though given its lack of price
advantage, Pentium III is still the better choice
for about the same money. S32J

QUAKE 11 FRAME RATES

STB VOODOO 3 3000

] Not Supported

DIAMOND MONSTER FUSION IBANSHEEI

Not Supported

Why play with only 64,000
colors when incredible 32-bit
color rendering delivers 16.7
million colors without
compromising 3D frame rate
performance

Packing either 16MB or
32MB of memory,

RAGE FURY has the
fastest 128-bit 3D graphics
available for an incredible
3D visual experience

Featuring hardware DVD
video acceleration and
TV-out for big screen
gaming (optional feature)

Supports ATI-TV WONDER,
the TV tuner add-on board

Check out www.atltech.com
for history-making news on
RAGE FURY ana the latest
32-bit true color 3D games

46fps

REVIEW • INTERACT'S SV-281 FORCE FEEDBACK FX RACING WHEEL

Drives Me Crazy

I he Force Feedback FX Racing Wheel is a "wheel"
only in the loosest sense. Rather than employing
the typical wheel-with-pedals arrangement, the
Force FX is actually a hand-held device modeled after
remote controls used for miniature race cars.

Installation was easy using the supplied driver CD,
but one major downer is that the FX needs a pair of
AA batteries for its force-feedback effects.

When playing NEED FOR SPEED III (NFS3) with the
FX, I found that the knob’s short throw and high resis-
tance to movement left me facing the sides of the
track more often than not. The device worked much
better with MONSTER TRUCK MADNESS 2. One good
aspect of the FX is the force feedback, which was
decently rendered in NFS3.

The packaging boasts that the FX is "perfect for
those long, grueling days of racing," but reality tells a
different tale. My left hand became seriously fatigued
after just four laps in NFS3. And given that I'm

PROS: Great idea, decent controller;
good feedback effects for its size; easy
Installation.

CONS; Somewhat steep learning curve
due to design: fatiguing to use; poor
documentation; no power supply includ-
ed, so it needs two AA batteries.

ambidextrous and a southpaw mouser, this was espe-
cially surprising.

As it turns out, using the FX is an acquired taste —
and it's a taste I'd rather not acquire. — Samuel B.
Baker II

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 75MHz or
higher, Windows 95 or better, t6MB
RAM, 35MB hard-drive space, 2x CD-
ROM, DirectX<ompatible video card,
DirectX 5.0-compatibie sound card/game
port, 2 AA batteries.

Price: $39.93

Manufacturer: interAcl Accessories, Inc.

GAMING

REVIEW • THRUSTMASTER FUSION

Beauty and the Bus

I t's official. I'm now a USB game con-
troller convert. And with gobs of new
USB gamepads on the market these days,
it's pretty much all I'm using.

ThrustMaster's new Fusion Digital, an
updated version of their Rage3D gamepad,
proved to be a solid USB performer, though
it wasn't flawless.

Installation is pretty straightforward,
although you still have to connect the con-
troller midway through the installation process.

After connecting the Fusion to the joystick port of
a Turtle Beach Montego II (Vortex2-based) PCI sound
card, it showed up as "Not Connected."

I took the Fusion for a spin through HIGH HEAT 2000,
and it performed like a champ. Its "lizard-eye" D-pad design is still one
of the most comfortable I've ever used, and it helps to reduce the

GAMIMG

"game-claw"
feeling you get
in your left
hand after a
long session.

Problems
with the tradi-
tional joystick
port are disap-
pointing, but if
you have USB
ports on your sys-
tem (you do, don't
you?), you'll probably want to use one of those ports anyway.
This way, you can keep both a regular joystick (connected to your
joystick port) and a gamepad attached to your system without swap-
ping. — Dave Salvator

PROS: Solid USB gamepad; comfortable
to use; painless USB installation; inex-
pensive.

CONS: Doesn't work via gam^ort on
some PCI sound cards.
REQUIREMENTS: Windows 98 for USB.
Price: $25

Manufacturer; TfiruslMasler

REVIEW • GAME COMMANDER

Listen Up!

S peech recognition for games isn't new, but the Game
Commander software package seems to really work. It's a
relatively simple system with a fairly clean user interface.

You use the included microphone headset to give verbal com-
mands, which are either preset for a handful of "built-in"
games or added by you for other games.

Unlike more complex packages, like IBM’s ViaVoice, Game
Commander requires no training for built-in game commands
and minimal training for games you add.

The current version 1 .0 doesn't support multiple-keystroke
commands, but there's a beta up on www.gamecmdr.com that
adds this important capability — with a few bugs, however.

Still, Game Commander is amazing to use. I checked out the
built-in presets for the games BATTLEZONE and MECHWARRIOR;

MERCENARIES. These worked well, so I created a template for EUROPEAN A!R
WAR. Within about a half hour, I was up and flying, telling the computer,
"Check six" and "Wing-engage bandits." After the battle I could say "Vector
home" and get the heading for home base. It was a real eye-opener.

COMPUTER

GAMING]

^ORLP

PROS: Simple speech recognition, mini-
mal training, easy setup.

CONS: Multiple keystroke version still in
beta stage.

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 200MMX or

Price: $44.95

Manufacturer; Mindinaker SofW/are

This is probably not a package
for first-person shooters, though.
There is a momentary delay while the command is executed, and in multi-
player games, a split-second could mean instant death. But sim jockeys may
have finally found something better than keyboard templates and even more
complex HOTAS controllers. Check it out. — Loyd Case

lik COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1993

^r.computergamlng.c

lerfcom lopt

y thi M
ishini

City 3
.and 1
one 2
I 3D
outh
tfarZo
y man
ger

?nt E

Crank Up Your Computer!

80 brain-frying watts of power. Bone-thumping bass from our Advanced Active Servo Tcclinology.

2-way satellites with piercing highs and aggressive mids. Welcome to the new breed of Yamaha multimedia speakers.
The new Yamaha YST-MS50 and YST-MS55D (with USB) are the best speakers for games and music on your computer.
They’ll even blow away your stereo. Get them for as low as $129* at your favorite computer and electronics stores.

MULTIMEDIA SPEAKERS • C D - R E W R I T A 8 L E RECORDERS • HEADPHONES • SOUNDCARDS

Fo/ 3 broehute, call (800)823-6414 c«l. 5217 or visit www.vamaha.com. 'Estimaled street price for Y5T-MS50 (Yamaha does not set retail pricesl-
®1999 Yamaha Coiporation of America, Consumer Products Division, P.O. Sox 6600, Buena ParV, CA 90622-6600

Go to #291 @ www.compulergaming.com/infolink

How Do We Rate?

Quote o' the Month

A ★ A ★ ★

Outstanding

The rare game
that gets it
all right.

A must-play
experience.

A A A A

Very Good

Worthy of your
time and
money, but
there are
drawbacks.

AAA

Average

Either an ambi-
tious design
with major
flaws, or just
vanilla.

★ ★

Abysmal The

rare game that

gets It all

wrong.

Pathetic.

Coaster

material.

This game says hello like the business
end of a Louisville Slugger.

—Dave Salvator, reviewing High Heat 2000

LOOKING PAST THE HYPE

The antithesis of ULTIMA ONLINE.

In some ways,

Back by popular demand! Now including the highly
anticipated Best page.

Heroes of Might and Magic III

[TTTjT^I’T^B

1 CG EDITORS’ CHOICE GAMES IN 1

GAME

RATING

PAGE

Battleground; Chickamauga

* * A >

162

Civilization; Call to Power

****

145

Darts

* A * r

”166

Email Battleship

166

Email Scrabble

A A A y

166

EverQuest

A A A A

130

Fighter Squadron

AAAy

137

Fleet Command

A A A A

152

Heroes of Might & Magic III

A A A A A

148

High Heat 2000

A A A A A

140

Lands of Lore III

A A

133

Machines

A A

165

Redline

AAAy

123

Requiem

AAAy

127

Roller Coaster Tycoon

A A A A

159

Smolensk to Moscow

AAA

165

Triple Play 2000

AAy

141

Warzone 2100

A A A >

162

X-Wing Alliance

AAAy

134

/.compulergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

wuw • homeworld<net

et999 sierra On-Line I

LOCATION: The Great uJasteland
DESTINATION: Galactic Core-

inner of UGO's Best Real-Time Strategy Game of E3

' Command the smallest
scout ship or
your entire armada in
an unrestricted 3D
world for pinpoint
V control* ,

'Explore super-detail ed\
galactic regions^ from |
asteroid fields to j
^nebulae to dust clouds*/

^l[RR/[

^ STUDIOS

Lead your Armada through '
l>b single-player
missions-! or play against
seven opponents over
the Internet or LAN in
multiplayer scenarios*

A robust mission
editor lets you create
your own maps for
V online campaigns* J

Go to #053 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

REDLINE

REVIEW

The Bloody Red Line

REDLINE Delivers Postapocalyptic Car-nage

by Mark Clarkson

T hings have been tough
since the apocalypse.
Gangs roam the cities and
highways in lethaliy armed
cars, killing and some-
times eating their foes.
Unleaded gas is up to 512.75 a
gallon — don’t even ask about
nitro. Fortunately, you're not out
to save the world — it's far too
late for that. You just want to
save your ass.

Blood on the Highway

Set in a grim future of warring
gangs and greedy companies,
REDLINE is particularly bloody,
even for a first-person shooter.
Characters don't just die; they
explode like an M-80 going off in
a baggie full of liver, leaving
headless bodies and severed legs
stumbling and dancing around.
You deal death roughly half of
the time on foot and the other
half in various vehicles, from
motorcycles and dune buggies to
tanks and turrets.

The eye candy includes the de
rigueur particle and lighting
effects, wall damage, and huge
explosions. Cars blow up with a
ferocious bang that throws big
chunks of scrap metal into the
air, where they explode again.

COMPUTER

GAMIKIG

wo R L D

PROS: Both four-
wheeled and on-
foot mofister-frag-
gin' fun.

CONS: Brute-force
level design.

DIFFICULTY:

Intermediate.

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 266, 32MB
RAM, 300MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT; Direct3D required.
MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: IAN or
Internet {2-1 2 players); 1 CO per game.

Ptrcp: $39.95
Publishei; Accolade

PEEKABOO 2100 The weapons aren't all that original, but the best
of them, like this sniper scope/rifle, can deal plenty of carnage.

pretty solid, particularly in the
case of the gruff but lovable com-
mander, Liddy, who guides you
through the missions. Interstitial
movie segments and briefings are
rendered direptly in the game
engine; unfortunately, this forced
me to restart once when a guy
got stuck behind a parked car
and couldn’t continue the canned
sequence.

Mixed Bag o' Carnage

REDLINE has 12 single-player
missions, ranging from car-versus-
car battles and stalking aliens on
foot in a crashed spaceship to
racing full-out across the blasted
wasteland in an attempt to reach
a garage with the "jaws of life"
before the bomb that's wired
under your car goes off.

Still, the main goal of game-
play is pretty straightfonvard: Kill
everything in sight. There are a
few hidden areas scattered
around, and there's the occasion-
al simple puzzle, but they’re so
rare I hardly ever thought to look
them until I found
myself stymied.
Multiplayer action —
deathmatch and cap-
ture the flag — tends
to be almost prohibi-
tively fast and fierce.

Unfortunately, level
design is too often of
the "let's create a big
room with 32,000
monsters in it" variety.
In the very last seg-
ment, you defend your
base against seeming-
ly endless waves of
cars that keep coming for more
than an hour (not counting any
time you might spend dying and
restarting the game).

While other games have tried
to mix vehicular and on-foot
combat and done it badly (think
NECRODOME), REDLINE does a bet-
ter job of blending the two into a
flashy, fast-paced package. If you
can tolerate the somewhat deriva-
tive gameplay structure and the
endless waves of enemies, you'll
enjoy a spin behind the wheel of
this deathmobile.

And when something really big
lets go, the ground shakes and
rolls, the screen flashes white,
and shock waves race outward.
Plenty of items in the levels are
destructible — boxes, rusting
hulks, street lamps, you name
it — and you can blast your way
through the occasional crumbling
wall or cracked door.

REOLINE's hand-held weapons
are mostly standard fare: buzz
saw, rocket, machine gun, and
grenades. Some new toys include
flash grenades, available only in
multiplayer, which blind your
opponents, and the EMP gun,
which temporarily disables a
vehicle and forcibly ejects the
driver. My personal fave? The
sniper rifle with a 4X scope and
explosive slugs.

Vehicles also come equipped
with an assortment of guns, can-
nons, mines, and rockets (both
guided and unguided). Most even
have guns that shoot sideways —
nice to have when you're fending
off a horde of mutant cannibals.

Sounds vary from great (the
machine gun) to so-so (the cars'
engines), and the voice acting is

i/.computergaming.c

COMPUTSR GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

HOP A TRAIN TO GET AROUND TOWN.

TARGET SPECIFIC SDDY PARTS AND ACTUALLY SEE
THE DAMAGE DONE - [NCLUDINC EXIT WOUNDS.

TALK TO PEOPLE THE WAY YOU WANT...
FROM SMACK TO COOL

KINGPIN: Lite oi Crime: ©1999 Xatrix Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. This product contains software technology licensed from id Software, Inc. ("id Technology"). Id Technology
©1996, 1997, 1998 Id Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Kingpin, Kingpin: Life of Crime, Interplay, the Interplay logo, and "By Gamers For Gamers." are trademarks of Interplay
Productions. Xatrix and the Xatrix logo are trademarks of Xatrix Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

For more info 0o to www. interplay. com/Ko-(oc.titml.
Go to #299 @ www.computergamlng.com/infolink

EVEH MOODS BYKECmCM GANG
MEMBERS YOU WANT ON YOUR SIDE.

MORTYR

ONE DOWN...

AN ARMY TO 00.

“^ollsnstein 30 mith
all the latest aili/aeees
in game glay ani
gray It las."

■PC BMPO

REQUIRES

null. aiorlyr. cam

Go to #176 @ wvm.computergamlng.com/infolink

REQUIEM: AVENGING ANGEL • REVIEW

Torched by an Angel

Angel With an Attitude Hits Lucifer Hard in 3D0's Action-Thriller

by Gordon Goble

S et against a pulsating,
almost liquid backdrop of
blood-red textures pulled
from Hell itself lies a
melange of death, a land-
scape dotted with the
writhing, partially gutted bodies
and torsos of those unfortunate
enough to be on the front lines of
a maniacal rampage. This is
Chaos, where Satan's demons
have their way with us humans,
and you'll find yourself wading
through it within the first five
minutes of REQUIEM: AVENGING
ANGEL. Yet this graphic introduc-
tion is less a visual indicator of
upcoming gameplay than an
impetus for you, as God's chosen
angel Malachi, to fight for what is
right and ensure that such car-
nage does not spread to Earth.

On a Mission
From God

Frightening on a grand scale,
with creatures, weapons, and sin-
ister environments that rival those

PROS: Excessive

violence; better-
looking monsters
and better monster \
death scenes than ' ,
most competing |
games; great
audiovisual variety; i
powerful weapon
and spell effects; some interaction
between characters.

CONS: Excessive violence; sometimes
questionable monster actions and reac-
tions: extreme difficulty forces lots of
repetition.

DIFFICULTY: Advanced.

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 200, 32MB
RAM, 275MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: 3dfx, Direct3D.

MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: Modem,
serial connection (2 players), LAN,
Internet (2-8 players); 1 CD per player.

of any game, REQUIEM is
somewhat less sophisti-
cated than the reigning
shooter king, HALF-LIFE,

The manual and online
tips try hard to convince
you it's not a blatant
klllfest, but the game is
far more shooter than
thinker. Still, you must kill
selectively, since killing
the innocent has dire
consequences: use the art
of conversation to extract
important information
from NPCs; and locate and utilize
various items to help you along
your way.

It's a good thing, then, that
Malachi is one capable spirit, with
an array of both magical and sec-
ular powers at his disposal. As
God's smiting hand, you'll have
command over an assortment of
offensive and defensive spells,
each garnered after completing
certain tasks or entering key
areas. Spells are cast in much the
same way you'd fire a traditional
weapon.

And man, do some of these
spells pack a wallop. For example,
Apocalypse destroys everything in
the vicinity amid a blinding flash
of light, while To Salt reduces ani-
mated bodies to crumbling pillars
of dust. All, however, pale in com-
parison to Bloodboil, where your
target percolates and spews
blood before ejecting limbs and
head and ultimately exploding.

Malachi can also Heal, Deflect
attacks, shine Holy Light in dark
tunnels, take momentary Flight, or
just simply mosey about unarmed

BATTLING YOUR PERSONAL DEMONS In this case,
your personal demon just happens to be Satan. Have a
nice day.

to avoid suspicion. You may even
want to Warp Time and slow
things down — great when sur-
rounded by monsters.

Holy Hand Grenade

Alternately, if mystic powers
leave you feeling cold, more con-
ventional worldly weapons run all
the way from your basic handgun
to grenade launchers, zooming
sniper rifles, and missile launchers.
Each shot is accompanied with
believable audio bursts and slick
visual indicators, the most spectac-
ular being the tremendous fireballs
and thick smoke screens from the
powerful long-range missiles.

The fast-framed and mostly
Earth-bound REQUIEM world,
meanwhile, is simply beautiful. It's
peppered with dizzying ups and
downs, water to swim through,
breakable windows, moving sub-
way cars, open-air rooftops, eleva-
tors, and murky caverns. Each thor-
oughly convincing outdoor and
indoor backdrop is draped with
superb lighting and color.

■it-

(

Turning your enemies to salt
or boiling their blood until
they explode are just a couple
of the nifty heavenly powen
you'll use to show heathens
the error of their ways.

It's worth noting
that, particularly at
the middle and
upper difficulty lev-
els, the progress of
Malachi will be
stalled intermit-
tently by maze-like
nooks and cran-
nies, puzzling
mobility tests, and
that tired old
unlock-the-door
recipe. With all this
and a legion of
evildoers to boot, saving religious-
ly is strongly recommended.

Adding to the game's appeal,
bad guys come in virtually any
form you can imagine, from
humans, human-mechanical
hybrids, and pure machines to
demon dogs and bizarre flying
beasts with diaphanous wings. At
the completion of each of the trio
of acts waits a particularly vicious
brute that will taunt and talk and
perform an incredible circus of
stunts and a great light show
before killing you. While enemies
generally act sensibly as they pur-
sue you and coordinate assaults,
they are also capable of aaing like
complete idiots, sometimes circling
in front of you as if you weren't
there. Other drawbacks include
monsters' propensity for appearing
out of nowhere and for simply
standing in one place, waiting for
you to cross a trigger point before
they notice and attack you.

REQUIEM follows the HALF-
LIFE recipe of mini-chapters as
opposed to time-consuming full-
level loads, and in this way it's
wonderfully fluid. Voice acting,
so vital in a game with this
much verbal interaction, is
strong throughout, and ambient
sound effects are appropriately
frightening. Heavy-duty lag time
bedeviled online play on
Mplayer, but hopefully 3D0 will
fix that.

Still, with its thundering
gamepiay, frightening sound and
graphics, and innovative use of
holy powers, REQUIEM: AVENGING
ANGEL is a hot-as-Hell little
number. K'iVi

w.computergaffling.K

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD •

sunnER

.gametx.com

SInIsiar 0 1982 Midvfiy Games Inc. SInIslar and Midway are regislered Irademarks ot Midway Carnet Inc. and used
under llcenia dy THQ Inc. All rigtits reserved. GameFX and THQ Inc. are Itedemarks ol THQ Inc. Settwaie la this
gamB&199STHQ Inc. All rights reserved.

REVIEW • EVERQUEST

Online Bashfest

Despite Technical Problems and Simplistic Premise, EVERQUEST Is Actually Fun

by Thierry Nguyen

[ VERQUEST is the DIABLO of
1 999, An odd comparison,
you say? Weil, here's how
they're alike; They both
offer a very simple premise
("go forth and thwack
many creatures to gain levels and
loot"), and despite this simple
premise (or maybe because of it),
they’re both damn addictive and
fun. While many details keep
EVERQUEST from being perfect,
it's ultimately a great way to eat
up your time online.

Elven Rangers Away!

For an online-oniy game,
EVERQUEST is very much a tradi-
tional RPG. It begins, like most
RPGs, with character generation.

First, you need to choose a server
(they are all located in southern
California, so you just need to
select one based on how many
people are on it). Then you choose
your race, class, face, and name,
and distribute attribute points.

Due to the time investment this
game requires, and the reality of
deadlines, I did most of my gam-
ing with a traditional RPG class
(Half-Elf Ranger), and dabbled
with some other characters and

computer' 1

GAMIM^

WORLD I

CIRCLE OF MAGIC The best way to play EVERQUEST is to find five
other gamers, join up as a party, and bond together via magic

servers to get a feel for the game.
Leveling is likeAD&D, in that it
takes a long, long time to gain
levels depending on what you do.
Realistically, most people will only
have time to develop two, maybe
three characters at most.

Character development in
EVERQUEST is skiils-based. Each
character starts with a certain set
of skills, and you improve these
skills by using them. Your skills
will cap out after a while, howev-
er, and you'll need to gain anoth-
er level to develop them further.
The way to increase levels is
either through lots of combat or
finishing quests for your guild or
other NPCs. Finally, every time

you gain a level, you get five
"practice points" that you can
use with your guild trainer to
immediately increase a skill's
level. This is useful for skills that
take a while to rise, as you can
give them a slight boost right on
the spot.

Combat is real-time, but it's
not a frantic mouse-clicking festi-
val, Each weapon has a specific
speed, so clicking your mouse as
fast as you can won't work — you
have to wait for your weapon to
be available again. Even easier,
you can just target your foe and
press A to initiate auto-combat;
all you have to worry about is
keeping the enemy in view,

A Hunting
We Will Go...

EVERQUEST is an extremely
social game. Several aspects of
its design are geared to support
teamwork. For one thing, to ease
concerns about rampant killing
and looting, there is a player-
versus-player (PVP) flag. Non-
PVP players cannot be harmed
by PVP players, and can't be
looted by them either, in life or
in death. You have a choice of
whether or not to be PVP, You
can either activate PVP mode
yourself or start on a server
where everyone is PVP,

After that, you'll realize that
once you hit a certain level, it's
usually pretty hard to take on
monsters by yourself. It's then
time to find some other players
around your level (up to five oth-
ers). and band together. That fear-
some Ore legionnaire won't seem
so bad once you have a Mage,
Cleric, and fellow Warrior taking
it on. However, if you are three or
more levels apart from each
other, the lower-level person
won't get any XP. This is to deter
newbies from tagging along with
their buddies for free XP.

Finally, there is a thriving play-
er-driven economy. While people
still buy from NPC shops, a lot of
gamers develop their trade skills,
and you're guaranteed to see
someone auctioning off some odd
item every couple of minutes.

With NPCs charging outrageous

PROS: Good
graphics engine,
large gameworld,
choice of PVP or
not, teamwork
emphasis.

CONS: Simplistic
gameplay:
abysmal manual; occasional major tech-
nical problems.

DIFFICULTY: Intermediate.
REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 166. 32<VIB
RAM, 500MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: Glide. DirectSD.
MULT1PUYER SUPPORT: Multiplayer
only.

Price; S44.9S

Publisher Sony/989 Studios

WELCOME TO WEST ORCLAND EVERQUEST
does a great job of varying the looks of the
regions, such as this Ore town on the outskirts
of the Wood Elf town Kelethin.

TROLLING FOR LOVE The different races have
unique characteristics, from the disgusting
-Trolls to the intellectual Erudites.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

v.compu terKamirg.com

ladkisl

tMelecnw to Ev«iOu«:(i

veu hove ertereil Wcjt f teeport

Katandni it Im te> awv/ to risped.

TttAel says , Ttiant YOU Ur*

MURDERERS AND THIEVES The red names indicate that the player is m PVP mode. You
can either activate PVP mode yourself or start on a server where everyone is PVP.

the three continents takes about 45 minutes in
realtime), and there's a variety of environ-
ments, from the peaks of Everfrost to the dingy
underground caverns of Ak'Anon.

Lag is handled extremely well. Client predic-
tion is built in, and what sometimes happens is
that an enemy stands still and then "warps"
forward, but that's nothing big. When the lag
does hit, however, it hits hard. A couple of
times. I got severe packet loss, and just
dropped out of the game altogether.

What's wrong with EVERQUEST? Well, the
manual is horrid. An ugly table listing all the
skills would have helped greatly, instead of a
woefully vague description of about five skills.
Also, the quests, as they stand, offer too little for
too much. I find an Ore with an axe, and all I get
is a bit of XP and the equivalent of four cents?
So, until the quests become more motivating,
you have to gain XP through lots of combat,
which may be too simplistic for some gamers.
Finally, the loading times between the various
zones of the world can take a few minutes.

Then the inevitable question; EVERQUEST or
ULTIMA ONLINE (UO)? I have to take the
"apples and oranges" argument here, because
that is what it boils down to — even if that
sounds like a cop-out. UO is a world simula-
tion, EVERQUEST is a social hack-and-slash. UO
has more freedom built into it, and you can
actually make a living off of trade skills.
EVERQUEST is more about sheer adventure and
combat, and the trade skills are useful, but you
can't really be a tailor or a baker. Those want-
ing a deep world sim should go to UO, while
those who like hack-and-slash gaming should
go to EVERQUEST.

Is it worth the $9.89 per month? That
depends on three things: (1) you don't mind
the pure hack-and-slash gameplay, (2) you can
find some like-minded adventurers to quest
with, and (3) you're willing to put up with the
minor annoyances that pop up every now and
then. If you meet these criteria, you'll find
EVERQUEST a very fun and rewarding online
RPG.

FLUTTERING FAERIES EVERQUEST has ail
the typical fantasy aitters to kill. Note that
this is nighttime and the Pixie generates
her own light.

LESSON IN THE DOJO Level gains give
you the chance to practice your various
skills with your designated guild trainer.

prices (armor that costs as much as my San
Francisco apartment), players turn to each other
for commerce.

When playing on an unofficial "role-play"
server (like Fennin Ro), you really see people
taking the game seriously. There, I've seen peo-
ple debating the true nature of a Paladin, or

snobbish High Elves
making disparaging
comments about both
Dark Elves and Wood
Elves In conversation.
Okay, it is a bit geeky,
but it's better than see-
ing guys named
hOxOrdOOd talk about
their latest warez trade.

Clockwork
Machinery in
the Fair Land

Technology-wise,

EVERQUEST is outstand-
ing. It uses a 3D engine
comparable to those of
action games. Spell
effects earn a lot of
"wow, pretty" reactions,
as do the changing
weather and the overall look of the characters
and the towns. There are still some rough-look-
ing areas, but overall, the engine puts
EVERQUEST light years ahead of other RPGs.
The gameworld is huge (boat travel between

Newbie's Guide to Norrath

The game's manual is abysmal, but for-
Unately there are quite a few online
sites that give you great Information on
the game. News sites like www.eqvault.
com or eq.stratics.com are good places
to start. The best site for newbies is
AllaKhazam's guide (everquestgames-
tats.com), which offers good tips for
character generation, plus links to the
main EVERQUEST sites. Also, be sure to
check out GameSpot's excellent
GameGuide at www.gameguides.
com/guides/evrquest/lndex.html.

v.compufergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ■ JULY 1999

**A great game for
those who like
well-crafted plots.
Interesting and well-
acted characters, and
healthy doses of
murder, intrigue and
mystery.**

— Sci'Fi Universe

SOUTHPEA

INTERACTIVE

DELUXE EDITION

Includes DVD-ROM, 6 CD-ROMs and Strategy Guide

“Best Adventure
Game of the Year.**

— JUST Adventure

**Plot and puzzle are
evenly balanced to
propel you forward
. . . you’ll be too
embroiled to give up.**

— PC Games

**An absolutely out-
standing gaming
experience**

**’98 Editor’s Choice
Award **

— WarZone gaming site

“combines a rich visual
experience . . . with a
detailed story and
hours of gameplay.**

A sci-fi adventure that
will immerse you in 360® of
completely seamless, incredibly
realistic, motion picture-
quality gaming.

IflDEoirEnLllL

**a Star Wars meets
Indiana Jones meets
Sherlock Holmes
interactive adventure **

— Unsealed
Entertainment webzine

— Next Generation

story and
puzzles.**

www.southpeak.com

® 1999 SoulhPeak Interactive. All rights reserved. SouthPeak Interactive, the SoulhPoak Interactive logo and Dark Side ol Ihe Moon are trademarks or
registered trademarks ol SoulhPeak Interactive LLC. Video Reallly and the Video Reality logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAS Instliute Inc.,
used under license. Other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks ol their respective companies.

LANDS OF LORE III

REVIEW

Strike Three

LANDS OF LORE III Continues the Franchise's Steep Decline

by P. Stefan "Desslock" Janicki
■ hen LANDS Of LORE:

I GUARDIANS OF
DESTINY was released
in 1997, many role-
playing game fans
were disappointed
that the belated sequel cast play-
ers in the role of a single, preset
character and bore little resem-
blance to its predecessor, THRONE
OF CHAOS. By minimizing RPG
elements and crafting an adven-
ture/RPG/action hybrid, develop-
ers at Westwood hoped the sec-
ond LORE game would have
broader appeal. With RPGs enjoy-
ing a renaissance, LANDS OF LORE
III has been released with the
enticing prospect of enhanced
RPG elements. Unfortunately, sim-
plistic gameplay, barren environ-
ments, and horrible character Al
collectively make playing LANDS
OF LORE III an unsatisfying gam-
ing experience.

Soul Purpose

Players are given the guise of
Copper LeGre, who, after witness-
ing the dismemberment of his
father and nasty stepbrothers
courtesy of dimension-hopping
hounds, realizes that he's both
become the heir to the throne of
Gladstone and lost his soul.

COMPUTER

GAMII\fC

B acting.

CONS: Outdated
graphics, horrible Al,
overly simplistic
combat barren
environments, bad \

DIFFICULTY; Easy.

REQUIREMENTS; Pentium 166, 32MB
RAM, 450MB hard-drive space,

3D SUPPORT: 3dfx, Direct 3D,
MULTIPUYER SUPPORT; None.

Price; $44,95

Publisher: Westwood Studios

w.computergaming.com

Copper has to travel through por-
tals to five strange "worlds" in
order to conveniently both save
the realm and recover his soul.
Thanks to the court mystic, lack-
ing a soul hampers Copper less
than losing a wristwatch and
bears no impact on gameplay
whatsoever, other than giving you
additional motivation in case
"saving the realm" wasn't suffi-
cient encouragement.

Unfortunately, gameplay is
substantially similar, and uniform-
ly simplistic, in each dimension.
The realms lack scope and, with
the notable exception of the fire
World's dragon city, any sense of
scale. There's only a handful of
creatures in each realm and less
than a dozen characters who
have more than two lines of
speech. Exploring a world largely
consists of traveling down barren,
linear, claustrophobia-inducing
paths. A capable 3D card will
produce some nifty, if overused,
colored lighting effects and
impressive backgrounds, but the
quality of the graphics varies
greatly, as the voxels and sprites
used to depict characters and
items devolve into pixelated
blobs up close. Certain areas
(Underworld, Shattered Desert)
overcome the limits of the game's
engine, producing a few memo-
rable moments. Others, such as
the forest, with its canopied roof,
pixelated bushes, and solid walls
of textured trees, look completely
artificial.

FamiEiar Play

You can customize your char-
acter by joining one or more
guilds and by selecting a familiar
(a guide). There are four guilds
(fighter, mage, cleric, and thief),
but there's little incentive not to
enroll in all of them. Copper
gains levels faster with fewer
memberships, but levels are rela-
tively unimportant, since there's
readily available equipment
that'll enable neophyte characters
to dish out formidable damage.
Gaining levels is ludicrously easy
in any event, as you can rack up
experience stomping pitiful train-
ing opponents. Each guild offers
only a couple of quests once
you've completed its initiation,
and later quests primarily require
a tedious return trip to an
explored world to grab a previ-
ously inaccessible item.

Voice acting is generally painful
and often occurs at inappropriate
times. During frantic moments,
your familiar will invariably
announce an intention to look for
trinkets while Copper retorts
that he's "hungry enough to eat
a horse." Huh? Get in the
game, Copper. Play to win.

Al is atrocious, as the mute
iower-Gladstone citizens smash
against walls and the pathfind-
ing of the three dozen enemy
types makes combat almost
always a joke, winnable by
strafing left and right and
bouncing arrow after arrow off

the heads of your hapless, unco-
ordinated foes. Since opponents
are rare, the environments them-
selves challenge you with jump-
ing and "thrilling" box-stacking
puzzles that are apt to cause
more character deaths than the
game's battles. It's hard to under-
stand Copper's constant need to
inhale food, or the gameplay ben-
efit which that touch of "realism"
provides, in a light-hearted game
that features fireball-hurling
chickens.

Concluding LORE

The game isn't all bad. Music
and sound effects are varied and
appropriately reflect Copper's
immediate surroundings. Some
elements from past games make
welcome reappearances. The
interface provides convenient
access to available items, spells,
and weapons and the comprehen-
sive journal automaps your travels
and records NPC conversations
and other useful information.

But the few noteworthy fea-
tures are overwhelmed by the
game's flaws. The initial release is
unstable, frequently crashing on
startup with some video cards,
and it's intolerant of certain virtu-
al memory cache settings and 30
sound cards. Clipping errors and
missing textures are frequent
enough that I suspected pits of
being graphical errors. Ulti-
mately, however, it's the simplis-
tic and repetitive gameplay that
makes LANDS OF LORE lli more of
a chore than a pleasure to play.

Editor's Note: A longer version
of Desslock's review can be found

at www.gamespot.com.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD •

REVIEW • X-WINC ALLIANCE

Death Star Duel

Numerous Glitches Weaken Lucasarts' Epic New Star Wars Sim

by Thierry Nguyen

A shady figure plays with a
deactivated lightsaber. “I
understand. You found
paradise in the Empire,
had a good trade, made a
good living. The storm
troopers protected you, and there
were courts of law. And you did-
n't need friendship from me. But
now you come to me and you
say, 'Don Azzameen, give me jus-
tice. ' But you don 't ask with
respect You don't offer friend-
ship. You don't even think to call
me Jedi Master. Instead, you
come into my house on the day
the new Death Star goes online,
and you ask me to do murder, for
money. "

Okay, perhaps X-WING
ALLIANCE isn't quite that close to
The Godfather. But there are defi-
nite similarities. Remember the
shady conflict between the
Corleone and Sollozzo families,
where one family stuck to their
traditional values while the other
family ventured off into dark, cor-
rupt territory? Now imagine that
scenario, but within the Star Wars
universe. That's the heart of X-

compciter' 1

GAMIN^

WORLD I

PROS: Great mis-
sion design, better
story than previous
games, gor^ 3D
graphics.

CONS: Quirky
scripting, audio
bugs with Vortex 1
cards shallow multiplayer, disappointing
ending.

DIFFICULTY: Advanced.
REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 200, 32MB
RAM, 150MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: Direct3D.

MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: Modem or
serial (2 players), TCP/IP Internet (2-4
players), IPX or TCP/IP LAN (2-8 players);
1 CO per player.

Price: S49.95
Publisher: LucasArts

WING alliance, where the honest
Azzameen family is pulled into a
familial war with the Viraxo fami-
ly, who have embraced both the
Galactic Empire and the Black
Sun syndicate. The final entry in
Larry Holland's line of STAR WARS
space sims, X-WiNG ALLIANCE is a
lot like Return of the Jedi. It looks
great and ends with a bang, but
has several flaws that keep it
from being the best of the three.
(At least there aren't Ewoks
everywhere.)

Family Business

Listening to the flood of com-

plaints about the lack of single-
player in X-WING VS. TIE FIGHTER,
developer Totally Games went
back to its traditional formula of a
scripted single-player campaign.
While previous games had you
playing a nondescript pilot for
either the Rebel Alliance or the
Galactic Empire, this installment
has a more personal feel to it.

You take the role of Ace
Azzameen, the youngest son in
the Azzameen family. At first,
you're just hauling containers for
your father's trading business, but
soon enough, the Rebel Alliance
recruits you. During the 53-mis-

sion Rebel campaign, you'll be
flying normal military missions,
mixed in with the occasional fam-
ily business-themed mission.

Ace's story is told through a
series of emails, mission briefings,
and a large amount of plot-relat-
ed radio chatter during missions.

Because the campaign is lin-
ear, with pre-scripted missions,
you'll have to replay failed mis-
sions until you succeed. You can
"sit out" up to three of the Rebel
campaign missions, but you'll
have to fly all the family business
missions to success.

Although the scripted cam-

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

y.computergaming.com

f 4.

X-WING ALLIANCE • REVIEW

paign means there won't be any surprises
when you replay, it does allow for some gen-
uinely interesting missions. One mission is
something of a "practice Death Star run," as it
entails your entering an Imperial Research
Facility and destroying its reactor. Others start
as routine missions and end up with surprises
like a visit from the Super Star Destroyer
Executor, or an attack by a swarm of Zero-G
Stormtroopers.

Doin^ the Kessel
Run in Three Parsecs

The missions have a more epic feel here, as
the paltry 32-ship maximum of earlier games in
the series has been bumped up to 96. One mis-
sion redefines the term "furball," as you scram-
ble to defend your capital ship from an immense
horde of incoming Tie Fighters. And in missions
that take place in neutral territories, you'll actual-

PROPHECY or even INDEPENDENCE WAR, but it
does look markedly better than previous releases.
Colored lighting indicates shield damage, and
doing damage to installations and capital ships
rewards you with explosions, sparks, and gases
venting from various spots. The sim also supports
DirectSound 3D audio, providing a slick Doppler
effect when He Fighters fly past.

Your Jedi Training
Is Incomplete

Unfortunately, X-WiNG ALLIANCE scores
another first for LucasArts: The game is riddled
with minor bugs and
technical flaws. The
scripting system has
several. The email
system would send
me email about plot
revelations before

mode is nice for quick missions, but there
aren't any good cooperative missions along the
lines of those in X-WiNG VS. TIE FIGHTER or its
BALANCE OF POWER expansion. Some of the
single-player missions are just plain dumb, as
well. Who thought it would be entertaining to
search for one specific container in a group of
30? Thankfully, these boring missions make up
only a small portion of the campaign.

The biggest disappointment, though, comes
near the end. As advertised on the box, you'll
fly the Millennium Falcon at the Battle of
Endor. The problem is, you don't fly as Ace, the
character you've spent
the game building. No,
suddenly the spirit of
Billy D. inhabits you and
you're Lando Calrissian
recreating the mission
from the end of Jedi. At
the end of the original
X-WiNG, you did replay
Luke Skywalker's mis-
sion against the Death
Star. But that game did-
n't have you invested in
your pilot. Here, you see
much attention given to
Ace's family troubles,
then after a seemingly
rushed mission, their story is thrown out and
you're flying a rehash of a movie scene.

I commend the team for making a great
reenactment of the destruction of the second
Death Star, but at the same time, it's disap-
pointing that they finished with the Battle of
Endor rather than really tying up Ace's story.
Hopefully we'll see the story given a better
wrap-up in the inevitable expansion disc.

X-WING ALLIANCE does a good job of solving
many of the problems with earlier games in the
series, but some gamers won't like its funda-
mental design. And this is a product with
numerous odd little quirks and glitches, which
is very unusual for LucasArts, Still, it's a 'much
higher note to leave on than X-WiNG VS. TIE
FIGHTER. S3I7

ly see civilian traffic passing by a customs station
or a spaceport.

Cockpits have seen a big improvement. The
2D bit-mapped cockpit imagery is gone, replaced
by a full 3D cockpit with a HUD overlay. In addi-
tion. the developers brought over the concept of
a padlock view, which tracks your targeted
enemy, from flight sims. TTiis can make a huge
difference in combat, discouraging "sit and spin"
tactics. When flying transport ships, you can hop
into a turret to defend your ship. There are auto-
mated features to improve your gunnery. You can
either set the turret to auto-fire on your current
target or man the turret and have your droid co-
pilot fly to keep the target in your firing arc.

This is the first Star Wars sim designed from
the ground up for 3D cards, and the Direct 3D
support is much better than that retrofitted to X-
WlNG VS, TIE FIGHTER. This doesn't quite have the
all-out 3D beauty of. say, WING COMMANDER:

such revelations occurred,
alerting me to plot twists
before they happened. Also,
if I didn't follow the script
exactly, I was rewarded
with a host of weird errors,
such as critical ships
exploding for no apparent
reason, critical ships dumbly
flying into enemy opposi-
tion and hence getting
shredded, and ships sitting
there doing nothing, leav-
ing me twiddling my
thumbs in the cockpit.

While the single-player
game is dramatically
improved, the multiplayer
support is merely decent.

An option-packed skirmish

^.computcrf;aming.<

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

The Ultimate Fighting Machines.

/■V Two fully simulated combat helicopters; the US AH-
64D Apache Longbow & Russian Mil-28N Havoc B.
3D engine specifically designed for low level
helicopter combat

y-V Highly detailed and articulated 3D models and
authentic flight dynamics.

A Three vast combat zones featuring countless
missions and dynamic campaigns that offer
something different every time you play.

All weather missions - day, night, dusk, dawn and rain.

vf Massive multi-player campaigns, via serial, modem,
LAN or Internet

>< Ultra-realisdc avionics displays and instrumentation.

90 fixed cockpit views and a detailed
; virujal 3D cockpit for each chopper.

Realistic and Novice options,
uf Fantastic stereo sound effects and speech.

>V Direct3D® support

nV0 snihl EUHSHIPS - bhi ebut ejimi

AVAILABLE NOW

PC CD-ROM

WINDOWS® 95 & 98

empire

Call 1 800 INTERPLAY

Download the demo at

www.empire-us.com

Dlslrihulcd

ENEMY ENGAGED - APACHE HAVOC and Empire Interactive are trademaiXs of Entertainment International (US) Inc. Software ©1998 Razorworks Ltd. All rights reserved. Interplay, the Interplay logo and "By Gamers.
For Gamers." are trademarks of Interplay Productions, All rights reserved. All oilier iradamarits are property of their respective owners.

Go to #082 @ www.computergaming.com/infoHnk

FIGHTER SQUADRON: THE SCREAMIN' DEMONS OVER EUROPE

REVIEW

Boom and Zoom

In FIGHTER SQUADRON, It's All About the Dogfight

by Robin G. Kim

F ighter SQUADRON: THE

SCREAMIN' DEMONS OVER
EUROPE (SDOE) doesn't just
stand out for having the
longest name. Where its com-
petitors concentrate on broad
historical campaigns, SDOE has a
smaller scope, carving out a niche
for itself with quick-to-fly sorties
and good dogfighting action.

SDOE lacks any sort of campaign
mode, limiting gameplay options to
instant action, multiplayer dog-
fights, and a mix of canned mis-
sions playable in any order. The sim
provides 30 missions, but because
each can be flown from several
viewpoints, the number of scenario
combinations runs into the hun-
dreds. For example, a mission pit-
ting a flight of B-1 7s with P-51 and
Spitfire escorts against two groups
of German interceptors can be
played from five different perspec-
tives. You can even switch between
aircraft in-flight. And you can create
additional missions to play or share
with friends using the sim's mission
editor. To maintain continuity
between missions, the sim keeps
pilot records that track cumulative
scores, kills, and decorations.

COf-IPtiXER' 1

GAIVIIMC

PROS: Good
flight-model feel;
fast 3D graphics;
furj air-to-air com-
bat excellent dam-
age and physics
modeling.

CONS: No cam-
paign; small maps; unexpected flight-
model simplifications; limited plane
selection; defluent manual.
DIFFICULTY: Beginner.
REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 11/266,
32MB RAM, 120Me hard-disk space.
3D SUPPORT: 3dfx Glide. DirectSD.
MULTIPUYER SUPPORT: Modem,
LAN, Internet (2-16 players); 1 CD per
player (unpatc^ed; patch eliminates CO
requirement).

Price: $46.95
Publisher: Activision

Stay Within the Lines

Missions take place in three theatres: North Africa,
Rhineland, and the Strait of Dover. Each area is drasti-
cally scaled down into a square patch with invisible
barriers that prevent you from venturing outside. While

realism obviously suffers here,
impatient players will appreci-
ate the shorter flight times.
Cursory mission briefings and
nonexistent mission planning
also help speed you into the
action.

Unfortunately, lengthy load-
ing times when you switch the-
atres can cause delays if the
game isn't allocated 1 60MB
(beyond the minimum install)
for terrain caching. Or worse,
you may be totally roadblocked
by a copy protection bug
(already fixed in a patch) that
prevents some PCs from even
starting the game.

SCREAMIN' DEMONS OVER
EUROPE has only 10 plane
types, all of which are flyable. You could conceivably
create more using the game's "Open Plane" interface,
but the effort and expertise required for the task are
daunting. The default set consists of assorted German,
British, and American fighters and bombers.

• Dramatically lower v \ - . ; / Y 0 U P Gaming

your learning curve \,

Eliminates the frustration \-- Experience

associated with remembering \

numerous keyboard functions \ Will Never Be

Switch between games, fast, easily . - j

and without confusion ‘ ^ame.

' Adapts to any PC compatible rectangular keyboard

' No installation or configuration required. No error messages.

o Acts as a permanent reminder of all game features

■' Adds a sense of realism to the total gaming experience! '

Check out our website or call 1.800.322.8866

www-cockpitcollection-com

v.compufergaming.c

Go To #075 @ www.computergaming.com/Infolink

tfe'c^nnaissance.

i.^^bilize antiaircraft
weaponry.

■Launch air offensive
to the North.

Two tanks are
destroyed hy U.S.
helicopters.

Return to maps.
View U.S. artillery ente
minefield.

Switch to
helicopter platoon
commander.
Head East.

VICTORY IS IMMINENT.

FIGHTER SQUADRON: THE SCREAMIN' DEMONS OVER EUROPE • REVIEW

HEADS UP FIGHTER SQUiU)RON; SDOE pro-
vides several mechanisms for artificially
boosting your situational awareness,
including an overlay map, a heads-up dis-
play, and plane icons.

PAINFUL PHYSICS The bent-back propellor blades and collapsed landing gear of this P-51
Mustang testify to the sim's top-notch physics modeling.

Regrettably, oversimplified bombsights and an
intractable autopilot make flying the bombers
virtually pointless.

The combat engagements are typically small,
with fewer than a dozen planes and a few
ground units present in an entire theatre, but the
sim's outstanding Al, flexible view systems, and
detailed damage modeling make for some great

dogfights. This holds true for Internet play as
well, which is exceptionally smooth and stable.

Carefree Flying

Flight modeling in SDOE feels very realistic out
to the edge of the envelope, though not beyond,
where you should stall or spin but do not. For
most players, these simplifications won't detract

much from the fun, but why mix them with
advanced features like torque effects and snap
rolls? The skimpy game manual is of little help in
learning such characteristics — or even some of
the basic game functions.

The 3D-acce!erated graphics give good frame-
rates at high resolutions even with the stunning
cloud effects enabled. And though the terrain
looks nice, rendering distances are so short you
sometimes have to look down to see the horizon.

Overall, SDOE doesn't stand out in enough areas
to have truly broad appeal. Despite this, its quick
action, fun dogfighting, and excellent Internet play
still offer a compelling combination for sim fans
who prefer to cut to the chase.

Adjustable
hand size

Left or right
handed throttle
corttrol ^

3D twist function

I From the makers of the award-winning X36 Joystick

. Adjustable
thumb length

Saltek's unique |
adjustment tool I

Adjustable
thumb angle

l>ur stick

Get more power, precision, and per-
formance. Adjust for right and left
hand, small grasp or huge grip, long
thumb or short; you'll get the perfect
fit. Incorporating 3D twist with full
programmability and Saitek's Ratio
Digital Technology - makes your
games play faster.

An exceptional value.

Cyborg Programmable 3D
Digital Game Stick

For use with ali PC games / Ideal for all 3D games

Look for us in your favorite retail outlets or visit our web site at http;//www.5aitekusa.com

It's time to upgrade

REVIEW • HIGH HEAT 2000

Coin' to the Show

HIGH HEAT 2000 Blasts One Waaaaay Outta

Here

by Dave Salvator

his ain't nothin' compared
to EARL."

After a dozen years.

EARL WEAVER BASEBALL on
the Amiga is still the defini-
tive benchmark for base-
ball games. Last year’s crop of
underachievers left baseball afi-
cionados sorely wanting for
something better. HIGH HEAT 99
was probably the best entry in
the otherwise unremarkable class
of '99. Well, it seems the second
time's the charm for Team .366.

In HIGH HEAT 2000 (HH2K),
they've come up with a sharp-
looking 3D engine, a plenty-deep
statistics model, and great game-
play, all of which combine to
knock one out of the park. Even
the die-hard EARL-heads here at
CGkV are ready to admit that
HH2K is a real winner.

Variety Is the Spice...

One of the most challenging
parts of building a good baseball
game is appealing to the arcade
guys, keeping the stat-fanatics
happy, and still making the whole
thing fun. The first thing you
notice about HH2K is how many
different ways you can play it. For

computer' 1

GAMINE

WORLD I

PROS: Great
gameplay, robust
stats engine, very
tweakable game
engine.

CONS; Can’t ae-
ate custom
leagues; occasion- C ^
ally unrealistic;

liard-coded controller mapping.
DIFFICULTY: Easy.

REQUIREMENTS; Pentium 166, 16MB
RAM, 60MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: Direct30,

MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: Modem.
LAN. Internet (2 players); 1 CD per player.
Price. 529.9S
Publisher: 3D0

GOES DOWN LOOKIN' This slider just catch-
es the outside corner for the put-away.

the arcade crowd, HH2K is a
great-looking game in which you
can control nearly every aspect of
gameplay, from the pitcher going
low-and-away with a slider, to
the right fielder scaling the wall
to rob a hitter of a home run.
What's really cool here is the
granularity of control, wherein
you can have the CPU handle dif-
ferent gameplay elements to
taste. This year, HH2K lets you
throttle game tempo, so you can
find a speed that works for you.
For would-be managers,
there's Manage-Only mode, in
which you can call plays pitch by
pitch, on both offense and

every which way. they
do it in varying
degrees depending on
how well the pitcher
can throw that pitch.
And if Jaret Wright has
just come at you with
a 95MPH heater, and
then comes back with
a 70MPH change-up,
you'll often find your-
self swinging way
ahead of the ball. Yet
another nice touch is
that not only do
sidearm pitchers deliv-
er the ball from the
side (which takes
some getting used to)
but their pitches move
very differently. There’s
also a rendered strike
zone that you can
bring up during play—
or in an instant replay if you
think the ump's strike zone is a
little stingy. And if you've got
Random Umpire enabled, he'll
occasionally make the wrong
call, though usually only on close
pitches.

HH2K is well tuned out of the
box, and the controls work well
for getting the ball around the
bags. And while controls are
hard-mapped, you can use
Alternate Throwing Controls,
which map each base onto Gravis
GamePad Pro's diamond button
configuration, making throw-outs
a snap.

Grand Slam

Is there anything HH2K hasn't
done right? Well, yes. HH2K has
a draft this year, and there's
minor-league roster management
over multiple seasons to develop
and bring up young players as
they mature. But you can't create
your own custom league with a
set number of teams, which
makes things like office leagues
harder to put together.

Still, HH2K has so much going
for it that if you're a hard-core
baseball fan looking to get in the
action, this game says hello like
the business end of a Louisville
Slugger,

defense. Here's where HH2K's
stats modeling really shines, since
the CPU is essentially playing
most of the game. You'll occa-
sionally see 15-3 blowouts, but
most games end with very realis-
tic scores. When two strong
teams face one another, it more
often than not becomes a pitch-
ing duel, where the bats go quiet
until around the fifth inning,
when the hurlers begin to tire.
But again, true to baseball, even
the best of aces can have days
when they just get shelled. And,
better still, the game seems to
model first-inning jitters that can
make for early runs before pitch-
ers settle into
their rhythm.

A Game of
Inches

HH2K's most
impressive feat is
its ball physics,
particularly dur-
ing pitching. Ball
movement is very
well rendered, as
is relative speed.
Not only do slid-
ers move side to
side, curve balls
top to bottom,
and knuckle balls

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ■ JULY 1

999

i/.computergaming.com

TRIPLE PLAY 2000

REVIEW

Blammo-Ball

If Baseball Were a Comic Book, This Is What It Would Look Like

by Dave Salvator

S ibling rivalry is a bitch.
When you come from (he
same house that has given
us FIFA, NBA LIVE,

MADDEN, and NHL, people
tend to expect great
things. And why shouldn’t they?
With this august stable of titles,
EA Sports reigns supreme for PC
sports gaming. But then there's
TRIPLE PLAY. Last year's version
was much anticipated, mainly
because it was being ported onto
a full 3D engine. But the game
disappointed, with a lackluster
look as well as underwhelming
and clumsy gameplay. In TRIPLE
PLAY 2000 (TPZOOO), EA finds
some redemption, and has
improved the franchise's stock.
But still, TP2000 isn't a platform-
defining title — the definitive
sports game that others aspire to
be — like its other EA brethren.
Couple that with the arrival of
3D0's fantastic HIGH HEAT 2000
and TP2000's mediocrity becomes
even more painfully apparent.

TP2000's shortcoming are
numerous, ranging from bone-
headed base-running Al. to ridicu-

coMPUxeit'-

GAMIMG

PROS: This is
Babe RuUi's
game, not Satchel

midgame save;
campy sound
effects.

CONS: Dim base- , iff
running Al; pitch-
ing lacks good ball movement; offense is
an absurd slugfest until difficulty is
dialed up.

OlFflCULTY: Easy.

REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 166, 16MB
RAM, 20MB hard-drive space.
MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: LAN,
internet EA Sports NeL serial, modem (2
players); 1 CD per player.

3D SUPPORT: Direct3D, Glide.

Price; $39.95
Publisher; £A Sports

L I

[■

TAKIN' ONE DOWNTOWN Using TP2000's
instant replay, you can see that David Justice
got all of this one before it exited Fenway in
a hurry.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL Robert Alomar had a good jump, but he's thrown
out at second.

lous hit counts that most teams
dream of, to a "color" com-
mentary engine whose color
can only be described as pun-
gent plaid. If I never hear Buck
Martinez explain the origin of
the term "can of corn" again,
it'll be too soon...

The Night Has a
Thousand Bats

Until you dial up the difficul-
ty, it doesn't matter what the
Al pitchers serve up — fastball,
curve, slider, whatever — the
pitching rightfully earns the
nickname "Tee." You'll hit left,
you'll hit right, you'll hit down
the alley, up the middle, all over
hell's half acre. When you really
connect with one, you'll hear
what sounds like Thor’s hammer,
indicating that you really tat-
tooed one. And all the while. Tee
will just keep serving 'em up. To
add insult to injury, we're not
talking about pitchers like Chico
Escuela of Saturday Night Live
fame; TP2000 would have you
believe that you can light up
Roger Clemens or Randy
Johnson like this, an occurrence
rarely found in nature.

Perhaps in an attempt to bal-
ance this big wood, TP2000’s
strike zone seems to include the
lower shin. The default batting
camera doesn’t give you a good

look at ball location, but even
with the ground-level camera
view you'll see pitches that are
well off the plate, and some
that threaten to break an ankle,
that are routinely called strikes.
In TP2000 you'll see some ball
movement that matches the
pitch thrown, but curve balls in
particular don't seem to have
much vertical movement on
them (sliders fare better). Also
lacking is much perceived differ-
ence in speed, say from a
90MPH heater to a 75MPH
change-up.

Timing is Everything

Another curiosity is outfield-
ers' superhuman ability to throw
a ball in from far afield — sans
cut-off man — to get a runner

out at home. This hap-
pened on several occa-
sions, and the ensuing
verbiage I directed at
the machine (which
garnered some aston-
ished looks from my
wife) would have been
more than enough to
get me ejected from a
game. It's as though
they moved the out-
field walls in about
100 feet for the pur-
poses of throwing.

And speaking of
glitches deserving of
some choice off-color
verbiage, TP2000's
base-running Al is
another sore spot. With
automatic base run-
ning turned on, I man-
aged to get caught in
several triple plays,
sometimes two in a
single game. The sce-
nario usually went like
this: I'd have two men
on, and hit a pop fly.
The base runners,
rather than holding
their bases to await the
outcome of the catch
(or lack thereof), would
run ahead to the next
base, and the ball once
caught would come
back in and catch both runners
off their bases.

Bottom of the Ninth

Despite these shortcomings,
TP2000 is actually kind of fun to
play, even with its dopey game-
play. But the game definitely
shows that it has been designed
more for the console world than
for the PC. Its second-generation
3D engine is improved over last
year's inaugural version, but the
players still look blocky, and this
engine lacks that X factor found
in other EA Sports titles’ engines.
If you've enjoyed TRIPLE PLAY
over the years, then this latest
installment won't disappoint. But
if you’re looking for something
that plays like America's Great
Game, this still isn't it.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ‘JULY 1999

L Mireyoueiferpuja '

) silent curse 01, ypur
oPPo/ie/it'sne^shpf/

'"I'sfiM/ Mojo Bay ' ' - ■

water hazard. yW golf Oppptietit

* 3 seripps ha/iificap With

®*PNiflg pla$ffla pafl?
P® ho/iest-we all
haKe.

, J;™ 'l'■6anl by inviting, your

L fcgSil t^ adversary to a game of

,Ji ;, Matchpiay on the

Dimension X Battlefieldl

Ho« many tiwes have

Go to #076 @ www.computergamlng.com/infollnK

aDO

Hasn't Iraq made a mockery

OF us LONG ENOUGH?

CIVILIZATtON: CALL TO POWER • REVIEW

Zero-Sum Game

CIVILIZATION Shoots for the Stars, Ends Up on the Moon

by George Jones

hen I was young, my
parents took me to
what was advertised
as "the scariest, dead-
liest haunted house in
Los Angeles." My
brother and I walked in nervously
excited, half expecting not to
make it out. We walked out disil-
lusioned and disappointed
beyond belief. What had gone
wrong? First off, the haunted
house just wasn't great. Secondly,
my expectations were unrealisti-
cally high. (I would not recom-
mend this sort of self-analysis
without the aid of a licensed psy-
chotherapist.)

Two years and countless hours
of therapy later. I find myself
wondering if the cold, occasional-
ly angry reaction CIVILIZATION:

CALL TO POWER has received from
gamers isn't for similar reasons.
First, we all had super-high
expectations for it. Second, the
gameplay, to be perfectly blunt,
just doesn't have it. All the cool
new features are outweighed by
play-balancing issues, gameplay
frustrations, and the fact that this
version of CiV just doesn't hang
together as well as it could.
computer'

GAMIAIG

wo R I_ D

PROS:

CMUZATION game-
play; improv^
graphics; great
soundtrack.

CONS: New fea-
tures that don't
add much to the
game

DIFFICULTY: Advar
REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 133, 32MB
RAM, 400MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: None.

MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: Modem (2
players), IPX. TCP/IP (2-8 players); 1 CD
per player.

Price: 544,95
Publisher: Activision

www.activision.c

NOW WITH FLAVOR CRYSTALS CALL TO POWER boasts Cfisp graphics and a streamlined interface;
the public works system of improving the land leaves a little to be desired, unfortunately.

Not Just Another
Pretty Face

Instead of relying solely on the
strengths of CIVILIZATION II, CTP's
designers decided to spice up the
traditional game by not just
tweaking but completely chang-
ing some aspects of this classic
game. The most immediate and
prominent differences are the
presence of many new units, a

new win-game scenario, the abili-
ty to play in space, and an
evolved interface. Unfortunately,
many of these new additions
aren't as helpful to the game as
they sound.

Take, for example, the game's
special stealth units; Clerics who
can drain money from enemy
cities. Lawyers who can bring city
production to a standstill, and so

on. Conceptually these units
sound great, but they fail to make
the game better. The Slaver unit
can be the most frustrating, par-
ticularly because he can cripple
you badly at the beginning of a
game. And when he attacks — by
stealing your citizens and making
them work for his civilization —
he can set you back big time by
stunting the growth of your early

NO MORE MESSY STAINS The Eco Ranger looks groovy, but you won't be laughing when the conv
puter sneaks one up to your finest city and flattens it into parkland.

v.computergaming.f

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD »

1999

REVIEW • CIVILIZATION: CALL TO POWER

cities. Defending against this stealth unit
requires you to build City Walls or a Slaver of
your own (who can detect enemy Slavers). The
catch Is that at the advanced difficulty levels,
the mere presence of Slavers can restrict your
strategy or set you back.

Other special units, such as the
Televangelist and the Subneural Ad, are more
nuisances than major frustrations. While they
do add a small bit of strategic depth to the
game — particularly because each is attached
to a different government type — 1 spent so
much time containing these units' damage
that 1 found myself wishing the game allowed
me to cut them out entirely.

One aspect of CTP that does work is the
handling of military endeavors. Instead of
forcing individual cities to take the production
hit for units, your whole nation does. This
means that you can crank units out of certain
cities without worrying about accumulating
costs. Also nice is the ability to toggle your at-
war setting between three different
levels. This creates an added ele-
ment of strategy that fits nicely into
the context of CIVILIZATION.

End-Game Woes

CTP's end game is a great idea
that I wish worked better than it
does. As you near the end of the
game, you research the wormhole
advance. When discovered, a worm-
hole appears somewhere in the sec-
ond layer of the game map: space.
You then need to secure the worm-
hole, build a Wormhole Probe, and
send It in. When it comes back, you
can begin the Alien Life Project. The
first player to finish the Alien Life
Project wins the game.

Again, what sounds cool turns
out to be considerably less exciting
when you play the game. Space
itself, in fact, is simply not an excit-

ing place to be in CTP. I never really used
space except to enter the wormhole: Small-
map games tend to be conquest-oriented, and
on the larger maps, there's plenty of land to
go around, particularly since you can turn
swamps into grasslands.

Another reason the newly implemented
space layer fails is because of its fuzzy graph-
ics. You'll have a rough time figuring out
where your units and cities are.

I wish the designers had allowed the
wormhole to somehow present itself on the
main map instead of in space — the game
would be much more exciting if you had to
track down a wormhole that existed in your
enemy's backyard.

Making matters more discouraging, the
Alien Life Project is more or less a rehash of
the "build a colony ship and send it to Alpha
Centauri" end game of CIVILIZATION and CIV
II, You put together the project piece-by-piece
and when it's finished, you win the game.

GUNS VERSUS BUHER KNIVES The new combat model adds a little
more strategy to warfare^ but creates an imbalance: You can beat
powerful high-tech enemy units with a large number of cheaper, out-
dated units.

Looks Good, Tastes OK

This seems to be the fate of CALL TO POWER:
cool new ideas thwarted at every turn. Even
the coolness factor of the game's new futuris-
tic military units like the War Walker are negat-
ed by super-high production costs and the fact
that you don't have to use super-powerful
units to win. In one game at the Emperor
Level, I was dropping way behind on the tech-
nological front. With the all-powerful Incans
declaring war on me and eating away at my
frontier cities, I decided to make a run at con-
quering the whole map by creating a massive
army full of Musketeers and Cannons. It
worked so easily I was shocked. (It took a
mind-numbingly long time to amass my
armies, however.)

Another example of what I'm talking about:
The Al plays appropriately at the five different
difficulty levels, and can even create a daunt-
ing challenge at the higher levels of the game.
But i wish the diplomacy model of the game
was as intelligent as ALPHA CENTAURI. Maybe
it's just me, but I miss hearing the desperate
pleas for mercy that an opposing civilization
vocalizes in ALPHA CENTAURI as I whittle down
their empire.

Even the niceties in CIVILIZATION: CALL TO
power's interface design left me with bitter-
sweet feelings. I love being able to queue up
and save build orders for city improvements
and units. I love being able to sort out all of
my cities by Happiness, Production, or even
what units are being built where. But I wish
that tile improvements were handled a little
better. Now handled by a public works system
rather than by Settler units, the end result is
pretty much a wash. You can focus your
Settlers solely on building new cities now, but
you're still saddled with having to microman-
age the land surrounding your cities. I hate to
cite ALPHA CENTAURI again, but its ability to
automate the improvement process is much
more elegant.

At the end of the day, the CIVILIZATION:

CALL TO POWER design team
should still be applauded for
trying to extend one of the
classic games of all time. Even
though this incarnation doesn't
hang together as tightly as it
could, I'm glad Activision didn't
just slap new graphics on
CIVILIZATION II and call it a
game. Why? Because even
though my experience wasn't
overwhelmingly positive, and
even though I wish CTP offered
more — individual scenarios
that focus on different portions
of the game would be awe-
some, as would a better multi-
player experience — I still
enjoyed my time discovering
this new take on a past classic.
It just won't be a game I'll go
out of my way to play all the
time, Q3I17

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD* JULY 1999

ii.compjtergaming.com

The world -will end in a firestorm of destruction.

Exploding sheep, mad cOws falling &om the shy, bombs, detonating old ladies -

this Can only mean one thing. Worms Armageddonl In the latest chapter of the Worms series,

following Worms n, pc Gamer’s 1S98 Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year, yOu’U
get more features and more weapons for more strategy, it’s never the same thing twice,
and now you can do battle with up to six teams on one machine, or on-line.

But there’s still only one way to win. Destroy all yOur enemies!

worms. teaml7. com

July ’99

.^.=^3 PROSE

WWW. microprose, com

REVIEW • HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC III

Hail the Conquering Heroes

Expansive Sequel for Hall of Fame Series Is a Resounding Success

by Robert Coffey
'm ready for my neural
implant now. Crack open my
skull and stab that little
microprocessor deep into my
medulla oblongata. I happily
embrace my cyborg future. At
least as some unholy union of
man and machine I'll actually be
able to play
HEROES OF MIGHT
AND MAGIC III every
waking hour instead
of just thinking
about it every second
that I'm away from
my computer.

For those of you unfamiliar
with the series, HEROES OF MIGHT
AND MAGIC III (HOMMIll) puts
you in the position of command-
ing armies of dragons, vampires,
knights, and the like in a tradi-
tional fantasy setting. The turn-
based gameplay is divided in
thirds: An expansive adventure
map, where your heroes traverse
the terrain in search of resources

computer' 1

CSAMIK

WORLD

PROS: Same com-
pelling HEROES-
Style strategy;
scads of new units,
each with an
upgrade; more
heroes and arti-
facts; new hero
abilities; bigger
maps and bigger
conflicts.

CONS; Can't load single scenarios from
completed campaigns; pokey Internet
piay; uneven campaign pacing; unfriend-
ly tutorial.

DIFFICULTY: Intermediate.
REQUIREMENTS; Pentium 133, 32MB
RAM, ZOOMB hard-dtive space.

3D SUPPORT: None.

MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: Modem,
direct connection (2 players); LAN,
Internet, hotseat (2-8 players); 1 CD per
player.

Price; S49.95
Publisher; 3DO

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Numerous upgrades and building
options in HOMMIll give gamers a multitude of choices to
make as they develop their towns from simple hamlets, like the
one on the left, to sprawling cities, like the one on the right.

mula that has made the HEROES
games a truly stellar series.

Bigger Than Life

HOMMIll expands upon the
insanely addictive play of the pre-

vious edition, retaining the core
gameplay while enhancing
almost every facet of the game.
This is first apparent in the size of
all the maps. The adventure maps
are frequently enormous, and

several of them feature
a new subterranean
level that effectively
doubles their size. Town
maps have ballooned
to hold a host of new
buildings, and combat
maps are about twice
the size of their coun-
terparts in the previous
game — all the better to
accommodate the new
armies that can now
hold up to seven differ-
ent unit types.

But that's just the tip of the
iceberg. There are now eight dif-
ferent types of towns, each gen-
erating a unique set of creatures
requiring a specific combat strat-
egy: The devastating hand-to-
hand attacks of castle units
demand a head-on assault, while
the ranged attacks of units from
tower towns benefit from a more
defensive posture. Every monster
in the game has an upgrade
available, whereas HEROES II
allowed only some of its units to

tures and purchase units; and a
hex-based combat map, where
battles play out like elaborate,
magic-enhanced chess matches.
In addition to resource man-
agement, building, and combat,
gamers are charged with manag-
ing heroes who lead the armies.
Heroes accrue experience with
every successful battle, allowing
them to gain and enhance a host
of abilities that affect their per-
formance. It's a delicately bal-
anced, thoroughly engaging for-

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD - JULY 1999

I'.computerf'aming.com

Killing Kendal and Capturing Steadwick

TO OUR READERS

This review was intended to appear last
month, but our printer erroneously
omitted the first page. We apologize for
the inconvenience and hereby reprint
the review in its entirety.

T o protect your more valuable units, let
your weakest creatures attack tough ene-
mies first so they absorb the counterstrike.

The Al almost always focuses its attack on
the largest group of units, so build up hordes
of cheap cannon-fodder units to occupy ene-
mies while your stronger armies pound on
them. For Inferno heroes, bait enemies with
imps so that magogs can hurl fireballs with-
out damaging more-expensive units.

Build marketplaces early. Almost every
map is scarce in some resource (generally
gold), so you'll need to convert resources
early and often.

Just because you start a scenario with
two towns doesn't mean you need two
heroes. Instead, use one town as your central
production point while building up only the
Income-generating aspects of the second
town. With one well-equipped hero you'll be
able to win crucial early battles for resources
that will eventually make additional heroes
affordable and effective.

Use your units' special abilities. For exam-
ple, since cavaliers and champions get 5 per-
cent extra damage for every hex traveled,
they should always charge before an attack,
even if it means just circling an enemy that's
already next to them.

The addition of sprawling subterranean
areas in the adventure section of the game
effectively doubles the size of many of the
HEROES III maps.

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Rather than let a hero load up with every
artifact in the game, HEROES III uses a paper
doll model to limit how many artifacts a
hero can use at once, forcing you to make
strategic decisions.

be upgraded. Most units have special
attacks/attributes that impact combat strategy.
For example, incredibly powerful archangels
can resurrect fallen comrades, while undead
ghost dragons can age opponents, thus halving
their hit points. Every unit is now rendered in
3D, with a more realistic look than the cartoon-
ish units of the previous game.

Finally, a slew of new heroes and artifacts
throws more strategic factors into the mix.
Every hero has an innate special ability — such
as being able to gain a bonus when command-
ing certain troops — and there are lots of new
abilities to acquire as well. One new ability,
tactics, lets heroes move their forces within a
limited range immediately prior to a battle —
it's great for offense-minded heroes, letting
them move ranged units into prime positions
while cutting down the distance melee units
have to travel.

All this makes for a game that is mind-bog-
gling in its depth, and the designers deserve
praise for adding so much while managing to
dodge the paralyzing feature bloat that could
have easily sunk the title. Unfortunately, they
also deserve a slap on the wrist for a tutorial
that requires players to either print out a huge
manual or constantly toggle between the game
and a separate text file.

Storyteller Theatre

HOMMIII breaks from its predecessors in its
campaign mode. Instead of a pair of linear

Y ou'll need two waves of enormous
armies to take out General Kendal, who
guards Steadwick. The key to this limited-
time scenario is to grab the dragon generator
in the lower-right corner of the subterranean
level. Load your best hero with units and
then seize the generator before the end of
the first week. Build up your dungeon town
first, initially choosing upgrades aimed at cre-
ating black dragons. Above ground, secure
resources quickly and don't waste any units
in fights with creatures who want to flee.
Raise gold any way possible. By the second
month, break through the southern magic-
Inhibiting garrison, flagging the griffin towers
and the lone gold mine. Load up your best
heroes and then attack, using your first hero
to take out Kendal's biggest stack and mop-
ping up with your dragon-laden hero.

campaigns with a few branches, the cam-
paign is broken up into six minicampaigns of
three to four scenarios apiece. While this lets
the game tell a more interesting story, fans
of the series will probably miss the either/or
branches of HEROES II that rewarded them
for taking on more challenging scenarios.

The campaign mode's greatest drawback is
that gamers can't load individual scenarios
from any completed minicampaign — you
have to save each scenario at its start to
replay it. While the campaign game is loaded
with more than 20 great, challenging scenar-
ios featuring a variety of goals — including
wiping out enemies, seizing specific towns,
escort missions, and more — they're unevenly
paced, with one cruelly hard mission finishing
up the relatively easy second campaign (see
sidebar for tips on beating this scenario) before
lapsing into easy mode for the next campaign.

Fortunately, the game ships with an enor-
mous number of mostly customizable single
scenarios, giving the game remarkable replaya-
bility, while the map editor that's included
ensures that tons of user-created maps will be
available online.

HOMMIII has improved its multiplayer play,
allowing for timed turns and letting strategists
scan the map and their
towns during an oppo-
nent's turn; while you
can't issue orders dur-
ing your enemy's turn,
at least it's better than
just staring at your
monitor. A problem with
DirectPlay makes
Internet HOMMIII a
sluggish experience, but
that should be corrected
in an upcoming patch.

Ultimately, the rewards of HEROES OF
MIGHT AND MAGIC III far outweigh its few
drawbacks. Hopefully most of those short-
comings will be patched, but even as it
stands now HOMMIII is a game that strategy
fans should absolutely be playing.

^.computergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « Jl

1999

Build a nourishing economy with
over 30 different trades -

woodcutters, brewers, fishermen,
farmers and many more!

“It's all gone 3D, baby!
The attention to graphic
and animation detail
sets a new standard...”

PC Gamer

Set sail on mcrcluinl ships
and trade in gold and iron.
Deploy your soldiers to protect
your hard earned resources!

With the SETTLERS III LEVEL
EDITOR you can create your own
landscapcs-thcn load your newly crea-
ted SETTLERS 111 world into the game!

“The pinnacle of strategy
games, nothing else even
conies close.”

CyberGamer

Send the maps you've created to
friends by e-mail and start a mulli-
playcr game on tlie dedicated

SETTLERS lll-lntcrnei Server!

THE SETTLERS III

Rich 3D Graphics
Extensive on-line game play
1 50 unique characters
50.000 phases of animation
OUT NOW!

THE SETTLERS III:

QUEST OF THE AMAZONS

Coming Summer 99

BKiuii s)tu<«Tituu». uaauii

THE SETTLERS HI
MISSION CD

Includes Settlers' III Level Editor
More battles, 8 new missions
10 new multiplayer maps

OUT NOW!

ULTIMATE STRATEGY:
ON LAND, ON SEA, ON-LINE!

http://www.settlers3.com

Available at fine computer gaming retailers everywhere.
To order direct call our order liotlina: I -800-933-BYTE
Look for THE SETTLERS' III for Mac August 1 999.

Blue Byte Software, liK. • 8H0 North Nlopot • Suite IV-230 • Austin, TX 7B759, U.S.A. • Phone: 151 2) 343-0500

www.bluebyte.com

Go to #280 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

REVIEW • JANE'S FLEET COMMAND

Ship Shape

A Strategy Game for Real-Time Strategy Fans and Naval Warfare Experts Alike

r :

by Jeff Lackey

■LEET COMMAND is a naval
warfare game that should
^appeal to gamers whose pri-
mary understanding of carri-
ers and cruisers comes from
CNN. However, FLEET
COMMAND also has enough sub-
stance to bring some serious
wargame fans into the real-time
strategy fold. This "HARPOON
LITE" game's point-and-click
interface, 30 views, and fast-
paced campaign missions are
clearly targeted at gamers who
want to jump in and play without
memorizing pages of complex
commands, but there's enough
substance here to intrigue the
grognard.

Anchors Away

FLEET command’s user inter-
face is simple, but extremely
functional. The lower third of the
screen is divided into three win-
dows: a big-picture overview, a
30 view of the action, and a
pane) of information on the
selected unit. The top two-thirds
of the screen is a tactical top-
down map. The 30 window and
the large tactical map can be
swapped out to provide a larger

GAMIMG

“'Wi

PROS: Wide range i
of world navies and I
platforms; versatile I
mission builder: I
nice 3D views. j
CONS: Campaign |
consists of only
four long missions;
action may get too hectic for serious
wargame buffs.

DIFFtCULTY: Intermediate.
REQUIREMENTS: Pentium 200, 32MB
RAM, 260MB hard-drive space.

3D SUPPORT: 3dfx Glide: Direct3D.
MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT: IPX. TCP/IP
(2-4 players); 1 CD per player.
Piice;S49.95
Publisher: Electronic Arts

view of the action, while another
key press will bring up a full-
screen 3D view.

Your role, appropriately
enough, is that of overall fleet
commander. You command forces
by clicking on them in the top-
down tactical map and giving
them orders, such as identify con-
tact, engage, patrol, transit, and
rescue. Everything can be accom-
plished via mouse clicks and pop-
up menus: Click to choose a unit,
click to select an action, click to
choose a location or Target.

As one might expect from a
Jane's product, a wide assortment
of ships, subs, and planes are at
the player's disposal: everything
from transports to carriers, from
fighters to bombers, representing
the navies of 16 nations. The
world's oceans are your battlefield,

with accurate ocean maps provid-
ed for the entire globe. The game
sports a good variety of interesting
single missions, with a diverse
range of platforms, force sizes, and
objectives demonstrating the ver-
satility of the game system. Also
included is a story-driven cam-
paign.

The campaign is one area that
may receive mixed reviews from
both hard-core naval gamers and
more casual players. First, it's
composed of only four mis-
sions — missions that might more
accurately be called scenarios.
Each mission is composed of mul-
tiple tasks, many of which are
revealed only upon completion of
earlier objectives. It could easily
take hours to successfully com-
plete each mission (and success
in a mission is required to

progress in the campaign). More
importantly, there's significant
variability when you start a cam-
paign mission, with the enemy's
make-up and location changing
with each replay.

However, the pace of the cam-
paign missions will be a little
hectic for players who cut their
teeth on serious naval simula-
tions, In what may appeal to
casual gamers {who would be
bored with simulated hours of
searching for the enemy), the
campaign missions typically start
with a hail of enemy missiles in
the air. You must rapidly click on
your ships and the incoming mis-
siles in an attempt to shoot them
down before they sink your
forces. At the same time, you'll
need to quickly launch your own
missiles, launch and direct air-
craft, send out anti-submarine
warfare (ASW) forces, launch
strikes against surface sites, and
much more. If you survive the ini-
tial onslaughts, the action will
slow down long enough for you
to catch your breath. Later mis-
sion taskings involve more
thoughtful objectives such as
finding and eliminating lurking
submarines.

But Will Mikey Like it?

So, is this a game for real-time
strategy fanatics or serious naval
wargamers? Often games that

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD - JULY 1999

ii.computcrgaming.com

Lead Lhe
P owERpuL Eldar!
Warriors in ad Epic
StRJJGGLE FOR^ SvRyiVAL.

70 diverse 3-D rendered, animated units from
the WARHAMMltf 40,000 universe.

A 24-mission campaign features a tightly
crafted storytine, dctaitcd atmosphere and
varied victory conditions.

In a galaxy dominated
by the uncaring Empire of
Man, the mystic Eldar®
must battle the evil, bio-
engineered Tyranids®!

RITES OF WAR”
thrusts you into the elec-
trifying Wari-iammer®

40,000 Universe! Based
on the award-winning
Panzer Qeneral® II
game system, this
turn-based strategy
game is easy to play, but filled with
deep strategies that arc a challenge to master.
Substantially upgraded from its famous predecessor,
units arc twice as large and animate when they
move, attack and die.

And when it comes to battle, you won't be alone —
cooperative and head-to-head multiplayer support
will hone your suivival skills!

QAMfiS

VOBXSHQr

W W W . Kl t E S O F W A IL, c o in

to ORJpERiViSit YOUlVRftAiLER^OI^CALL; 1-800-716-8503 WitH ViSA/mC (DORtH AfflERjCA OOLY).

Go to #112 @ www.coinputergamin 9 .com^nfolink

> the propeRy otttwir respective tioldets

REVIEW • JANE'S FLEET COMMAND

try to be everything to everybody end up failing
to please anyone. FLEET COMMAND, however,
has the potential to please a surprisingly broad
range of gamers.

The wargaming neophyte can have a great
time, patrolling the oceans and kicking the
butts of the international bad guys. All of the
military platforms that are so prevalent on the
news these days are under your control; you
can launch cruise missile strikes on terrorist
sites, rescue downed pilots, enforce no-fly

The World

Is My Playground

HAVE IT YOUR WAY A powerhj) missior) builder
allows the creation of everything from simple
engagements to complex scenarios.

F leet command features an extremely versatile
mission builder. You can select any section of
any oceanln the world and populate it with the
ships and aircraft of most of the world's navies. The
power of the mission builder is in its complexity, but
it's very simple to use.

I had a great time setting up a simple mission in
which ! had to use a few Los Angeles-class sub-
mariries to locate and destroy a Russian carrier pro-
tected by a standard carrier formation and its ASW
aircraft. Tools are provided to include enough vari-
ability and user-controlled randomness that you can
be surprised by your own missions. The complexity is
there to create full-blown scenarios, with multiple
objectives, orders and platforms that appear only
under certain conditions, custom event-driven WAV
files, and much more. This excellent utility transforms
FLEET COMMAND from a good game to a great naval
gaming system.

zones, and generally impose your own
military justice on the world. Gamers
who don't know the difference
between a Flanker and a Tomcat can
press a key and have Jane's reference
guide pop up more data than you
need. The manual is pretty skimpy on
explaining some options, but a little
experimenting will usually be suffi-
cient to figure these out. The point-
and-click interface ensures that
novices can jump right in and play —
they may not win right away, but
intriguing scenarios and fairly con-
stant action should keep them
involved.

The trickier question is whether
hard-core naval gamers will enjoy
FLEET COMMAND. The answer is a qual-
ified yes. Some compromises are
required, as many factors normally
player-controlled in traditional hard-
core games are abstracted or comput-
er-controlled here. For example, you can't set the
specific speed, depth, or altitude of weapons
platforms. More micromanagement than expect-
ed is required in some
situations; for example, a
helicopter on ASW
search will usually not
attack a hostile sub it
discovers unless you click
on it, an aircraft ordered
to identify unknown air-
craft will not automati-
cally attack if the plane
is hostile, and so on.
Generally, if you want a
unit to do something,
you'll need to specifically
give it those orders.

However, the serious
naval wargamer is given
a huge number of plat-
forms and the entire
world's oceans in which
to conduct operations.

Some results may be a little questionable (it
took eight missile hits to sink a small trans-
port), but in extended play most things feel
right. Send a loaded Hornet into a dose dog-
fight with a Flanker, and you'll likely be sending
a rescue mission after the pilot. While you can
send a squadron of strike aircraft to take out a
target defended by surface-to-air missiles,
you'll lose fewer planes if you also send an EA-
6B prowler to jam the SAM site radars. And
while the campaign missions may be better
suited to the more casual market, the very
powerful mission builder (see sidebar) ensures
that serious gamers can set up almost any
engagement conditions imaginable.

The bottom line is that FLEET COMMAND is a
lot of fun. The average gamer will have a great
time moving fleets of carriers and destroyers
into battle and fighting off storms of enemy
missiles. The more serious naval gamer, if will-
ing to accept some abstractions, will savor hav-
ing the navies of 16 countries and the world's
oceans in which to set up historical and hypo-
thetical scenarios,

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD * JULY 1999

i/.computer{;aming.<

STRATEQIZe. COLONIZE. DOMINATE. ERADICATE.

there’s more than one way to rule this galaxy

ire military
for their

tiuliaing an empire lanes time, you neea w oe aipiomaiic, lecnnoiogicaiiy aavancea, ana Theirruil
stealthy. And sometimes, war is the only solution. You choose trom one ol the live major eiiiciencyl
alliances. You’ll get all their strengths. All their weaknesses. And every decision mailers, makeiol

\essness,
nd stealth
a lethal
ation.

r U '.p til

' -W ■

■T

Allocate technology Engage in 3-D Control covert Oversee empire growth

resources tactical combat operations and progress

BERTHS FEDBRATiOJl/.

From the company that brought you Civilization" H and Masters of Orion //'

smiMR- m m 4 .^smsE.

THBtteXTBBnBHATian

V, microprose. com

Slat Trek: The Next Genetalion "'S & @1999 Paranioitnl PIclures All Rights Roseived. Used iitidei license. Slat Trek and tclaled niaiks are tiadenurks u1 Paramount Plclurcs. @1999 Hasbro Interactive. Inc.
All Rigtrls Reserved. MicroProse. Hasbro Interactive, and the Kaslro Inieraciive logo are trademarks ol Hasbro or rts allllrates. All other trademarks are Itro ptopeity ol llielr tespeciivo holrlets

1 Tveolayed euerv
g^ffiRn wargame that's
IRMSTln the hast 12 years
mu this Is the best of the lot.”

"Man of VUarll finally
^^hies conigtilsr nnmiials
a rhiisdnio rejoicer
“Man of War II is a must buy
for fans of classic naval warfare.

The order is given. Prepare for battle!

Iti the-^xplosive traditioiuilMas comes the all new high seas

; cdttilfESijmEMan of J0[. as a^ Fleet Adnural, Division Commander or

Ship's jQaptain and fertile fury of a broadside,' the terror of a boarding action and the
thrill of a glorious victory, jn a ^umatic realitjme first person perspective.

Real-Time Naval Warfare ^ Multiple Levels of Command • Character Creation & Development

'GT Interactin
Software

StCrattegii First

www.slralegyfirst.com

www.gtlnteractive.com

' properties i

. 01999 GT Interactive Sollwar

- ^ -J

^Hl

ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON • REVIEW

Thrills and Spills

ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON Is a Fun, Addictive — and Slightly Bumpy — Joyride

by Jeff Green

H ere's a nice milestone for
the millennium: a comput-
er game in which you get
to clean up vomit. Finally!
Fortunately, this is but one
of the many tasks await-
ing you in ROLLERCOASTER
TYCOON, an utterly charming gem
of a strategy game from
MicroProse — and a welcome
change of pace for those tired of
conquering galaxies, fighting
wars, and building global
economies in game after game.

Reminiscent of classic "god
games" like SlMClTY,
ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON has less
serious intentions. Your goal,
throughout the 20-plus scenarios,
is to design and maintain a suc-
cessful theme park. Merry-go-
rounds, ice-cream stands, water
slides, bumper cars — this is what
you must command and conquer.
It's harder than it sounds, and it's
also a lot of fun.

Making Flippy Floppy

ROLLERCOASTER tycoon's look
and feel will be instantly accessi-
ble to anyone familiar with SiM
CiTY-style gameplay.The game
uses a standard isometric per-

computer'' 1

GAMII^

spective from which
you can rotate your
park at 90-degree
angles, zooming in
and out for different
views of your work-
in-progress. From a
distance, you can
work on long-term
planning and layout;
fully zoomed in, you
can check out your
park in wondrous
detail, complete with
excellent visuals and
atmospheric sound
effects and music.

To succeed at the
game's scenarios
(unfortunately they're not linked,
campaign-style), you must become
adept at juggling numerous
responsibilities. You must build
decent rides that will attract
patrons to the park — and you
must build a variety o\ rides to
keep people from getting bored.
The park must be clean and safe,
and you must constantly monitor
rides for breakdowns. Your patrons
will need places to sit down, eat
and drink, buy gifts, and avoid the
occasional rainstorm.

Finance plays a crucial role.
Prices on admission, rides, food,
and gifts must be set low enough
to please people, but high
enough to keep your revenue
flowing. As in real life, money is
everything. You need it to pay
employees, maintain and land-
scape the park, advertise your
attractions, research and build
new rides, and expand the
park's grounds so that people
keep coming back. Operate at a
loss for too long, and you'll
find yourself with a dirty, bro-
ken-down, empty park.

WHY, THANK YOU! Win a scenario in ROLLERCOASTER
TYCOON, and the tiny patrons of the park will stop to
applaud your efforts — one of the game's terrific small
touches.

Wild Gravity

The game includes a number
of prebuilt rides, but ROLLER-
COASTER TYCOON enables you to
custom-build your own coasters
and attractions — and that's its
particular ace-in-the-hole. Game
designer Chris Sawyer clearly
intended this to be as much of a
coaster-building toy as it is a
strategy game, and, for the most
part, it works. Those creative
enough and somewhat mechani-
cally inclined will have a blast
structuring new rides, setting
bands and rolls, intertwining
tracks with other rides, and more,
ail in an attempt to win a high
excitement and intensity rating.

For those less mechanically
inclined, however, building roller
coasters can be an intimidating

WINDOW HELL One of the game's big drawbacks
is excessive window ciutter — there's just too
much going on for a window-based interface.

DEATHTRAP DOOFUS My first custom roller coaster was this wooden night-
mare, which no one was dumb enough get on.

and difficult experience.
The game cries out for
an open free-form mode
in which gamers can
experiment without
monetary limitations or
a running scenario
clock. It's a serious, frus-
trating omission.
Fortunately, the game's
outstanding Web site
(www.rollercoaster-
tycoon.com) features
batches of additional
rides for free download-
ing, including hundreds
of user-built rides.

I feel a bit like a
humorless bully for pick-
ing on such a fun game, but
ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON has
Other annoyances. The tool for
raising and lowering land and
water is a total pain, and until
you get it down, you'll drain your
treasury trying to use it properly.
(How about an Undo button next
time?) Also, there's just far too
much window ciutter, with practi-
cally every tool and item opening
up a new window. Finally, there's
only one game speed, meaning
you'll often find yourself sitting
around without much to do while
waiting for time to pass — a
deadly feeling.

Little Creatures

still, ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON Is
SO dang eager to please, with so
many great touches, it's impossi-
ble not to like. The first
time you see the little
patrons whooping with
glee after exiting a coast-
er that you've built, or
applauding you when
you win a scenario, you'll
feel it was all worth it.
Even watching queasy
patrons vomit brings a
certain, twisted satisfac-
tion; you feel this world
you've created is alive.

It's not the most macho
strategy game around,
but ROLLERCOASTER
TYCOON is a great little
thrill ride — well worth the price
of admission.

I'.computergaming.t

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

I “Environments that
’ ^look as good as any '
big-budget action film.’

ft V — Next Generation

“Shadow Company is
arguably one of the
most promising tactical
war games in development
^ .right now...’5^^?;

-r^J/NET’s GameCenter

urn

mjl

REVIEW • WARZONE 2100, BATTLEGROUND: CHICKAMAUGA

Apocalypse and Civil War

Two New Wargames Deliver Very Different Jolts of Excitement

Warzone 2100

★ A A ^

Price; $44.99

Publisher: Eidos Interactive

vwvw.eidosinteractive.com

A ptly blending research,
design, and unit cus-
tomization with strate-
gy and combat,

WARZONE 2100 tries hard to com-
pete with STARCRAFT and TOTAL
ANNIHILATION, but its back-story
is the same old postapocalyptic
hoopla. Commanding a small
force known simply as the
Project, you venture from your
underground labyrinth in search
of artifacts (technofogies) in a
world shattered by nuclear fall-
out. Once a base of operations is
created, you build and manage
power plants, factories, and
research facilities in order to sup-
ply, design, and upgrade your
forces while searching for more
artifacts. Long-term playability is
assured through more than 400
technologies and 2,000 unit vari-
ations. Designing and building
the perfect combat force is vital
to surviving the deadly
onslaughts of the evil Nexus,
Collective, and New Paradigm
regimes.

WARZONE 2100 takes place on
three giant maps: Alpha (desert
wastelands), Beta (demolished
city), and Gamma (mountains).
Each campaign map is carefully

divided into several scenarios that
focus on base defense, assault, or
recon missions. Each mission
extends the campaign map,
revealing more areas to conquer
and explore. At times, the combat
scenarios are repetitive, but there
is a definite feeling of progression
throughout the game.

The Al, for the most part, is
solid. Tanks attack the enemy,
and trucks repair damaged struc-
tures without requiring your con-
stant micromanagement. Unit
pathfinding improves as tech-
nologies improve. WARZONE 2100
also includes a multitasking fea-
ture in which multiple commands
can be assigned to units or facto-
ries, making management easier;
for example, you can dispatch a
repair truck to a particular spot,
use that same truck to build an
oil derrick, then repair a structure
somewhere else on the map.

Structures and units carry over
from one scenario to the next,
gaining combat ratings that
range from rookie, green, veter-
an, and professional all the way
to hero, The higher the rating, the
more proficiently units move,
work, and fight.

There are times, however,
when the Al shows some vulnera-
bility. Occasionally, tanks get
sidetracked from reaching the
battlefront. Attack formations
also seem a problem; they really
could have used a combat forma-
tion script similar to MYTH.
Mastering the interface is no easy
task, with so many mini-menus to
navigate and a bazillion designs
to utilize. The game gets increas-
ingly convoluted over time, and
the timed scenarios sometimes
become more of a nemesis than
your enemies.

The game's 3D graphics are a
refreshing change from the stan-
dard 2D real-time strategy game
format. However, the various
camera angles and panning and
zooming features sometimes
impede the process of navigating
the map.

All in all, WARZONE 2100 offers
a unique mixture of building and
combat. If you're a technical
maven who enjoys customizing
your forces, then this game is the
one you've been waiting for.
-Raphael Liberatore

Battleground:

Chickamauga

AAA^

Price: $49.95

Publisher; TalonSoft/Take 2
vwvw.talonsoft.com

D espite its age, the

finest Civil War series
ever isn't ready for
euthanasia, thank you.
BAHLEGROUND: CHICKAMAUGA
takes you west of the
Alleghenies, where, instead of the
hint of Victorian romance we
always associate with Robert E.
Lee, we are treated to the bare-
knuckled, savage affairs of
Generals Grant, Rosecrans, and
Bragg. In addition to the heroics
of Longstreet and Thomas at
Chickamauga, we also get the
Union's hard-fought victory at
Murfreesboro, and a "what-if"
battle that assumes Bragg failed
to guess Rosecrans' movements
between Murfreesboro and
Chickamauga.

The basic Battleground system
portraying these conflicts hasn't
changed drastically. The 32-bit
graphics now stylistically resem-
ble those of TalonSoft's WEST
FRONT more than Charlie Kibler's
earlier hand-painted
Battleground maps. You may
now deploy skirmishers, and
there are a few common-sense
changes to morale, fatigue, and
defense.

The simulated situations vary
in appeal; Though Murfreesboro
isn't the most exciting battle,
Chickamauga is particularly well
balanced for multiplay.

The new touches are evolution-
ary, but this game system man-
ages well enough without a lot of
innovation. If you're into the

American Civil
War, you'll enjoy
it. For others,
you should be
warned that
there's probably
more scholar-
ship than excite-
ment to be
found here; this
package isn't up
to the level of,
say, BAHLE-
GROUND:

SHILOH.

-Jim Cobb

A COMPUTER GAMING WORLD - JULY 1999

(i.computergaming.coni

(iJhwiiI in nni-nnii /iiiPOfii’' /n W’Wll, ihc grcni
ir.i()(insil)ililv of •iciiii iii_i; sii/);i/ics niuJ

(lie /\lln-s is veins. Tile ner miis ri'lv en llic
oj llif iioit skrd. Hr ii iind <le veiic paill

^X^EXPANSION PACK 7a^/

7()(/<iv',s a//wM oi/ls/ei iji/n'icnl eiiil cffonlcss

/mid. Till’ £iJ/-)inv Mc/m siciKiiii) ii'i7l flui/lt’iigi’ veu
lo iii'flii’ (I j>(issi'ii_i;f/ 'nil .ms/i'/m for /lie ciiicens
of Sl’lII/Il’.

EXPANSION PACK FOR THE 1998 STRAT

pnRAlLROADfW .

TVcOONII

III /111- /iilnir, ill!’ Gi’eC-'eii- nev
CimlTs teiv/ei ciii-ijji'. Von iiiii.s/
.svsinii dun siijijiei/s i/iis iiincsiuiJ

tin:

Developed by

POP
• P

PopTop Softsvora

vwvw.poptop.com

VAW/.godgames.com

I^M iiv iniiM, woman, and child wlio enjoyed llic pleas-
ainries ofiiii aflemoon well speiil with the Miiash I’C hit
Rdi/Kxiil IVieeii II has aniiciiuied the arrival of this
nllra-moderu expansion pack. i;ij;hieeii all-iiew cam-
paiKii scenarios divided into three disliiici historical
eras are sure to delight tixlay's ituxlem PC gainer.

Ride the rails back in time!

In the passage from through W3i).
Slop along the way lo do your jiaiT for ihe war effort.
Deliver troops and supplies to the besieged .Allied
front. Rchtiild the lirilish rail sysiein after its
cleslruciion in the Bliu. I’roieci Molher Russia fioin
ihe advancing Ciennans. Only a foolproof rail sys-
leni can spell victory for liie Allies!

Modern times require progressive thinking!

Next stop, the Modern lira. .Solve the
iranspoiTaiioit problems facing the modern world from
l‘)50 to 2005. Help build a modern Melra passenger
syslcui for Seattle. Manage the suboeeanic Cluimiel sys-
tem beiwccn liiigland and France wiilunii ilromiing in
debt. Be ibe visionary who links two of .America's great-
est cities, l.os .Angeles and San rrancisco, with long-
awaited high-speed rail.

Last stop, the future!

iTom 2005 to 2030, worldwide lloodiiig

and melliiig ice caps wreak new havoc for the modern
railroad tycoon. Tlie United States is a watery waste-
land. The Mediterranean is an empty basin with a blos-
soming Hdeti. Aniareliea is a promising agricuhural
center. The heady task of providing rail systems for this
strange and e.xotie new world falls upon yonr shoulders.
No donhi only the inosi ingenions sohuioiis will do.

One of the wonders of the world?

• This fine game boasts new buildings! Weapons plants...

ARMY BARRACKS. ..AND A DISTILLERY.

■ Melted Antarctica.. .floddeo United States.. .dried up Medi-
terranean. ..these AND OTHER NEW LANDSDAPES ABOUND!

'pO'Um-ci^ U

th 1992

|AC Compuief Games Straier.; P!ii ■

Go to #124 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

Gn-Kfa?

fp:<lnTTrrraprtrrTf^

QlEO<3K32nP

m, ^U&CMnn?

(nM S0!IW.UI

MACHINES, SMOLENSK TO MOSCOW • REVIEW

Robots 'n' Russkies

Some Games Take the Fog-of-WarToo Seriously

Machines

'k k

Publisher; Acclaim Emertainment
Price: S44.99
www.acdaim.net

've come across some really
ugly genre combinations in
the past, but none that I
wanted to see succeed as
badly as this mixture of RTS and
FPS. I can't count the number of
times that I've cursed at my tanks
in COMMAND AND CONQUER
because they turned at the wrong
time, and simultaneously
thought, "If only /could have
been at the helm." Unfortunately,
the integration of these very dif-
ferent gaming styles was done so
poorly in MACHINES that I found
myself wishing that they had
stuck to one and done it right.

The premise of the game is
that humanity sent out robotic
artificial Intelligence seeding
colonies in advance of the human
"generation" ships that were fol-
lowing. The humans never
arrived, and a bug in the Al code
caused the original robot ships to
make colonies of their own. When
these empires of colonies bump
into each other, the different Al's
fight it out.

It's actually a pretty cool story,
but instead of developing it into
a truly wonderful plot-oriented
campaign game. Acclaim stitched

a bunch of nonrelated and illogi-
cal scenarios together, with a few
new features acting as glue.

One of the most touted fea-
tures has been the viewing inter-
face, and this is where the game
fails the most. None of the three
settings — strategic view, ground
view, and first-person view — real-
ly does the job well.

The strategic view offers a
rotating, over-the-shoulder per-
spective that is good for selecting
multiple units. But the onscreen
visibility range is severely limited.
You can't pan the view up very
far, which severely limits the type
of movement that you can effec-
tively order. To make things even
worse, you can't really see the
terrain's elevation changes.

The ground view is probably
the most useful of the three. With
it you get to see much further
into the distance and detect an
enemy advance in time to do
something useful; often, I was
able to visually spot a unit in this
view long before it appeared on
the strategic view or satellite
map. But coordinating multiple
units is difficult.

www.coniputefgaming.com

The first-person view is the
most disappointing. You can jump
into the cockpit of any mobile
unit and control its directional
movement, turret movement, and
weapon fire. Sounds great, but
once you go to this shooter POV
you lose the satellite map, mak-
ing it impossible to maintain any
type of strategic control. Nor can
you control multiple units any-
more, making your attack a solo
performance.

Buried in all this mess are a
couple of gems, though. There are
real micro-terrain features: small
hills, shallow depressions, ravines,
trees, and other obstructions that
offer localized cover from enemy
fire and provide an opportunity to
nullify longer-range weapons and
let you "funnel" the enemy into
your kill sacks.

This genre combination still
holds great promise, but you're
better off looking for satisfaction
in another title . — Lance A. Larka

Smolensk to Moscow

★ ★ A

Publisher; Schwetpunkt
Price; $39.95

www.ghgcorp.com/schwerpt

S chwerpunkt continues its
series of little-known
World War II battles with
SMOLENSK TO MOSCOW
(STM). Once again, we're in the
Eastern Front of WWII; fortunate-
ly, the designer skips the easy

German victories of the summer
of 1941 and instead portrays the
Soviets' stiffening before
Moscow, thus examining how the
Wehrmacht was worn down,
slowed, and stopped during the
infamous Russian winter.

An enlightened port of
boardgame to computer, STM has
the look and feel of SPI and
Avalon Hill divisional-level
games, but without the tedious
paperwork for command control,
morale, and supply. This conve-
nience mostly makes up for the
somewhat tricky interface and
simplistic graphics.

The game's nine scenarios
cover the period from October to
December of 1 941 , with some
fighting in 1942. The gameplay is
so straightforward that any board
wargame aficionado will be right
at home. Optional rules add spice
with fog-of-war and advanced
combat postures; there's also a
scenario editor. The Al is reason-
ably tough, and STM works very
well for email play against anoth-
er human general.

STM provides a solid, well-
researched, and pretty enjoyable
game with a lot of replay value.
Even so, the DOS clunkiness of its
engine is starting to catch up to
Schwerpunkt, which should con-
sider a move to Windows 95/98.
Otherwise, this little company
risks being buried by the
avalanche of scenarios found in
high-test games like THE
OPERATIONAL ART OF WAR.

—Jim Cobb L<'iVJ

REVIEW • EMAIL SCRABBLE, ELITE DARTS, EMAIL BATTLESHIP

Step Into My Parlor

Bit-Mapped Tiles, Darts, and Salvos Bring Back Turn-Based Classics

A A

Publisher: Hasbro Interactive
Price: S14.95
www.hasbro.com

S crabble, the classic word-
building game, Is ideally
suited to the play-by-
email format. A fatal
bug, however, prevents you from
exchanging your tiles. Face it:
When you've got X, Z, Q, J, F, N,
and D, you really don't have
much choice but to chuck it all
into the bag and redraw; not
being able to do that Is a serious
drawback.

On the plus side, EMAIL
SCRABBLE is simple to install and
quite easy to play, whether or not
you're familiar with the board
game. SCRABBLE clans are rapidly
forming over in CGW<, sales
department, and even jaded edi-
tors have become hooked. Heck,
some of us are even playing this
game with our moms (but don't
tell anybody).

While it lacks some of the
chrome (sexier graphics, more
robust dictionary, and so forth) of
the bigger-budget SCRABBLE of a
year ago, EMAIL SCRABBLE is
aggressively priced and quite
addictive. This is one email appli-
cation we really like. — Tom Price

A A A

Publisher: Patch Products
Price: S20.00

www.patchproducts.com

W elcome to CGIVs

Department of Crow
Eating. Having taken
an admittedly cheap
shot at ELITE DARTS In my
Greenspeak column last month —
without ever having played the
game— I felt it was my cosmic
duty to take a higher road this
month, be a professional, and
actually play the game before
reviewing it. And. yeah, for what
it is, ELITE DARTS is actually really
good.

ELITE DARTS Is a surprisingly
feature-rich darts simulation
made by people who take their
darts seriously. It offers three
classic games — Cricket, '01, and
Baseball — that you can play
against up to three computer
opponents or in multiplayer mode
over a LAN or the Internet. ELITE
DARTS smartly includes the
games' most common rules varia-
tions, allowing you to customize
play and scoring to the way
you're used to playing in real life.
For example, my real-life favorite
is "Inverse Cricket," so I was
thrilled to see it here.

You can choose from
five types of darts and
four locations and
boards, Computer
opponents can be
scaled from three levels
of difficulty and can be
mixed within one
match — letting you
play a match against
two amateurs and one
pro, for example.

The dart throwing itself is most
akin to a golf simulation. A trans-
parent arm appears on screen;
you aim with the mouse and then
throw by thrusting the mouse for-
ward. The speed of your mouse
movement determines the veloci-
ty of the dart. It’ll take a couple
of games to get the feel down,
but once you do, the play is nat-
ural and pretty dead-on.

If this appeals to you, then
ELITE DARTS is about as faithful
and accurate a darts sim as you
could ever hope for, minus the
drunken morons walking in front
of the board as you throw — the
game's only serious omission.

— Jeff Green

Email Battleship

Publisher: Hasbro Interactive
Price: $14.95
www.hasbro.com

I n the traditional Battleship
boardgame, each turn can
result in a hit (which is signi-
fied by a
tinny "ka-
boom" sound in
the old battery-
powered ver-
sion of the
game) ora miss
(creating a cor-
responding
"splash" sound
effect). Playing
the game EMAIL
BAHLESHiP by
Hasbro conjured
a sound in my
head — a huge

splashing sound, This game miss-
es by a mile.

Which is a shame. First let me
say that 1 have no problem with
the game of Battleship itself. I
wasted many a prepubescent
afternoon on the shag carpet
yelling out "You sank my battle-
ship! " at one cousin or another.
The game is a good way to waste
a half hour. Battleship by email,
however, is a bad way to waste a
few weeks.

Worse, EMAIL BATTLESHIP can
be a bit buggy. Unfortunately, I
too often received "application
not found" errors while trying to
open the email attachment and
was forced to detach the attach-
ment and run the program in
order to play my move.

It's CGWpolicy to finish every
game we review, but EMAIL
BATTLESHIP is so mind-numbingly
tedious that after two weeks and
only one sunken ship, I decided to
give up. There's not enough strat-
egy or planning inherent to the
game to keep it interesting or
compelling over that period of
time. — Tom Price

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

t'.computergaming.com

wtvUeaiJSj

Clubl'

. fisicgcnds forttfllil. tpil haa iftUBiitd^ land,
•a-dartiidc of death and .dcstrattiofij ^te rariinq oacr
dOat d)TPE«;p.caccful ttalm;. tdfning;t)rot|itT|»tnst brother,
cranlagaii]Bt,.clan. ^ifnimon :uour'CDi«piind raise
uour 8ffl'oi;d,f0r'a fight^o^elfatli aplret a demonic
monster mho feed^-on h|tred;$)id despair. ■

Battle as one of fOur unique characters.

Conquer malicioii'S.harde's and mythical
beasts throiigh.huhdreds of miles of
dqnaerous tandspf'. a, ' • ••

^Bfeief fe^nrafel buzzles, interact
Mnw^m^ridthafv .characters.

to 4 players over

www.strategyfirst.com '

www.gtinteractive.com

CI999 Stiaiegy First Inc. All rights reserved. Dans is a iradomark ol Strategy First All rights reserved. AU other iiademarks arrd copyrighis are the properties ol their respective owrrers. 01999 GT interactive Software.

STRATEGY • CHEATS • WALKTHROUGHS

Ciuilization: Call to Power

Excerpts From Brady Publishing's Civilization: Call to Power— The Official Strategy Guide

W hether you wish to conquer
the world in the manner of
Alexander the Great or just
build a peaceful empire, it's
inevitable that you are
going to have to fight a war at some point
during CIVILIZATION: CALL TO POWER— and
not always at a time and place of your own
choosing. Therefore,
the first question
you should ask
yourself is,

"What is my
strategic goal in this
particular game?" The second question,
which follows from this, is. "Can I afford to
undertake my chosen goal?" What newcom-
ers to CALL TO POWER often fail to ask is,

"Can I afford not to undertake my chosen
goal?" Worse, still, they have no goal at all.

One thing we can assure you, however: If
you simply go along, letting the game play
you. instead of you playing the game, your
civilization will be left in the dustbin of his-
tory. Therefore, whenever you are faced
with the possibility of military conflict, ask
yourself:

1. Does the potential enemy pose
an immediate threat to the well-
being of my empire?

2. Will this fight start a long,
protracted war?

3. Why am I going to war?

4. How much can I afford to lose?

5, Will this war help me win the
game?

At the risk of sounding cynical, we tend to
go to war when it is most practical to do so.
For the Alexander the Great-style player, this
might be 90 percent of the time (yet you still
don't want a war forced on you before you're
ready). Even if you're a player whose style is
better suited to economics and production,
you'll eventually reach a point at which you're
entangled in a "World War" that continues
over a long number of turns. In either case,
you are going to have to decide whether: (a)
crippling your opponents is enough; (b) you
should take an opponent entirely out of the
game; or (c) you can derive a lasting advan-
tage without expending as much effort.

See the Review

THIS ISSUE ON PAGE 145 • 3.5 STARS

CONCERNING THE ART OF COMBAT

W hen you attempt to enter the space of an enemy
piece, combat occurs. Combat in open terrain is
fairly simple, because you can make a rough estimate of
your chances in a given combat by comparing the attack
value (of the unit moving into the space) with the defense
value (of the unit already in the space). Combat percent-
ages are always figured from the attacker's point of view,
as follows:

Attacker value divided by (Attacker value +
Defender value) = Chance of a Hit

If the Attacker makes his Chance to Hit, he scores a sin-
gle hit on the Defender, who loses one Hit Point. If the
Attacker misses his Chance to Hit, he loses a Hit Point.

This continues until either the Attacker or the Defender
has lost 10 Hit Points and is eliminated.

UNIT COMBAT MODIFIERS

Standing Down

•12 percent

•25 percent

Unit has 2/3 of a movement

point left -33 percent

Unit has 1/3 of a movement

point left -67 percent

Veteran unit

-t-SO percent

MULTIPLICITY OF WONDERS

Here are our favorite Wonders of the World

for multiplayer games:

East India Company

Often better than in a solo
game, as there's usually
more trade between
Humans.

Eden Project

One of your aggressive

Leeion Versus Phalanx

A Phalanx, with a defense strength
value of 2, defends in Plains (whether
or not the Plains space has a road, it's
still considered open terrain). Assume
that a Legion, with an assault strength
value of 2, attacks the Phalnnx.The
odds aro even, which you'd expect from
two units with the same value. But
let's go thraugh the piticess anyway:

Tlic Legion Attack is 2; the Phalanx
Defense is 2.

2 [attack value] divided by (2 (attack
va)ue]->-2 [defense value]) =: Chance for
the Attacking Legion to Hit the
Defending Phalanx.

2 divided by (4) = 1/2, or a 50 percent
Chance to Hit for the Legion against
the Phalanx.

At this point, the computer program
would generate a random number from
1 to 100, much like rolling a pair of 10-
sided percentile dice. If the number in
this case came up as, say, 43, then the
Legion would have made its Hit Chance
and would inflict a hit on the Phalanx.
If the random number was anything
from 51 to 99, then the Legion would
have failed its Hit Chance and would
take a hit itself. The process repeats .
until one of the units loses 10 Hit
Points and is eliminated.

Keep in mind that all units on At
War status have a full allotment of 10
Hit Points. Units that are Standing
Down, however, can have no more than
75 percent of their normal Hit Points,
making them brittle in combat.

buddies will be a polluter nonpareil.

Edison's Lab

Not as qood as the Internet, but still helps vour research efforts.

Forbidden Citv

Shuts off information to vour enemies; drives 'em nuts.

Haqia Sophia

The mulliplaver aame without a thrivinq Theocracy is rare indeed.

Internet

Almost quaranteed to keep vou in a mulliplaver qame.

London Stock Exchange Beina more cost-efficient than fellow Humans is a key to winning.

Philosopher's Stone

It's more important to know what a Human is thinking than an Al.

Sphinx

As combat-haoov as most qamers are. this qives vou peace of mind.

Stonehenge

Grow fast, grow strong, before your neighbor does.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

/.computergaming.com

Versus Ranged

CONCERNING RANGED ATTACKS

R anged combat is new to the CIVILIZATION series, but it's not terribly
compiicated when compared to other strategy games— just different.
1 . Basicaliy, all units with a Ranged Attack {Archers, Musketeers, and so
forth) are placed in the "back row" of each side, as long as they have nor-
mal land combat units {Marines, Phalanxes, and the like) in front of them,
in the "front row."

2. When combat begins, the Attacker’s Ranged Units fire on defending
enemy units in the front row, and the defenders do likewise at the attack-
ers in the front row. The combat is resolved similarly to the usual fashion,
except that:

a. Each back-row unit attacks with its
Ranged Attack value;

b. Each Ranged Unit attacks, or
"fires," 10 limes {with arrows, musket
balls, whatever);

c. Anything that would normally count
as a Hit to the Ranged Attacker has no
effect {since they are firing from too
great a distance for opposing units with
nonranged weapons to really hit them).

3. Next, the front-row troops conduct
combat as normal.

4. This continues until all front-row
troops of one side are eliminated. Then,
the Ranged Units of that side must move
up to the front row and use their normal
{non-Ranged Attack) values; now that
they are in the front row, they may be
fired upon by enemy units in the second
row {using their Ranged Attack).

5. Combat continues until all units of
one side are eliminated.

IWlTulffiTI

IWo Roman Knights and
one Legion attack a group of
three Greek Phalanxes and
one Archer on a hill.

i. Even though the Greeks
are the defenders overall,
the Archer still gets to
"attack" the Romans by
using its Ranged Attack
value.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

I n CIVILIZATION: CALL TO POWER, you deal with 12 forms of govern-
ment. Each has different effects on Growth, Production, Science, Go

2. The Archer opens fire on
one of the two Knight units,
firing 10 times;

(Archer Ranged Attack of 31
divided by (Archer Ranged
Attack of 3 4^ Knight
Defense of 3)

3 divided by (343)

3 divided by 6 » 1/2, or 50
peix;ent

In this example, the
Archer does slightly less
than the average damage,
scoring 4 hits on the
Knight.

3. The fresh Knight (which
took no hits) defeats the
opposing Phalanx, but loses
8 Hit Points.

4. The other Knight, dam-
aged by the Archer, loses to
its opposing Phalanx.

5. The Legion loses a close
battle to its opposing
Phalanx.

6. Outnumbered, the Knight
takes 5 hits from the
Archer's Ranged Combat
and is easily dispatched by
the Phalanx.

It should be noted that
without the Archer, the
Knights would probably
have had enough firepower
to take out the Phalanxes. A

I ment. Each has different effects on Growth, Production, Science, Gold,
and Militaiy support. In addition, each governmental form has a maxi-
mum percentage of Gold that can be spent on Science in any given turn.
As a result each of the following forms of government has an appropri-
ate point at which it can be used most efficiently for your strategy.

Anarchy: This gives you only one-tenth of the amount usually pro-
vided for Science and three-quarters of the amount usually garnered in
Gold. The most inefficient form, but a necessary evil to make the transi-
tion to more advanced governments.

Communism: Assumes that the central planning mechanism of a
totalitarian regime can be very efficient in the short run, but forces you
to pay the price in Pollution. By using the 1 .75x multiplier for Production
and 2x multiplier for Science, you can develop your industrial base rather
quickly. Of course, your citizens will be choking on their own soot.
Corporate Republic: A fictional form of government designed for
CALL TO POWER, it's superior to Democracy, Monarchy, Republic, Theocracy, and Tyranny in terms of its impact on your
fiscal {Gold) and industrial (Production) status.

Democracy: The leader of a Democracy can assign 1 0 percent more Gold to the advancement of Science (70 per-
cent as opposed to 60 percent), which represents a significant edge over your opponents as you move through the
technology tree. On the downside, the possibilities of unrest during wartime make Democracy a poor proposition for
gamers who prefer to conquer above all else.

Ecotopia; An ideal government for those who wish to prosecute an efficient war. It is particularly effective when
you wish to attack heavy polluters.

Fascism is the ideal governmental form for prosecuting a war prior to the advent of Ecotopia. There are no major
disadvantages for the conqueror unless you happen to build so many Fascist units that you take a significant force
reduction when you change to Ecotopia or a more advanced government later in the game.

Monarchy: The slight bonuses for Science and Production gained by this government during the early portion of
the game are far outweighed by those of otiter forms of government as the midgame approaches. Note also that the
larger the empire, the less efficient the Monarchy becomes. As your empire grows, don't hesitate to change to a new
form of government.

Republic: The most efficient form of government for a medium-sized civilization. It offers you across-the-board
bonuses to the Science, Gold, and Production modifiers. It also has the least downside of any government until you
are able to establish a Democracy.

Technocracy: Though inhumane, this is a useful form of government, since it has the highest Production modifier
in CALL TO POWER. It is definitely the form of government to use when you're falling behind and you need to pump up
production in a hurry with no distinct downside.

Theocracy: A relatively efficient form of government but one that doesn't pay dividends as big as some of the
later governments; still, the Cleric attack could become a big income producer for your government This is a very nice
form in the early portion of the game for someone who prefers to build rather than conquer.

Tyranny: The baseline government for CALL TO POWER, with no advantageous modifiers. When it is possible to
move on, we advise you to change governments out of Tyranny as quickly as possible.

Virtual Democracy; A highly idealized futuristic version of pure democracy, it is the best government for
making progress in science. If you're headed for the Wormhole Sensor and Alien Synthesis Project ending, this is the
government you'll need for success.

Continued on Page 178

v.computergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD»JULY 1999

Heroes of Might & Magic lii

Build Strongholds, Augment Spells, and Rule Erathia in No Time

ven given the excellence of the entire series, HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC III still stands out, with eight castle
types to choose from, 16 different types of heroes to play, over 100 creatures to command, and a detailed magic
system to master. In a game with so many options, it can't hurt to get a few pointers, especially if you're facing a
bully like CGl^V Features Editor Denny Atkin, who is just begging to be beaten. With that in mind...

THE ABCS OF COMBAT

Need for Speed

Nothing spells victory like initiative. If you can move first in battle, you
can draw first blood and cast the first spells. Being first thus means
having a great advantage. Try to ensure that you have at least one
stack in your army that has speed 9 or higher. Also, make sure your
ranged units are faster than the enemy's ranged units. If your ranged
units aren’t faster, then take the opportunity to cast Haste or Prayer on
them to speed them up. It's important that you attack with your ranged
troops before spells or faster ranged units cut down their numbers.

Morale and Luck

These two factors are very important to any tactical battle. Good
morale allows your troops to attack again, while good luck means
your unit deals double damage. Conversely, bad morale paralyzes your
unit for that round, Never mix more than two types of creatures from
a town, because that lowers morale. Try to get the Leadership skill for
your heroes: It adds +1 to +3 to your units' morale. Still, keep in mind
that morale can never go higher than +3. Similarly, you should try to
acquire the aptly named Luck skill.

Heroes

Be mindful of the fact that heroes add their attack and defense to
their attendant troops. Thus, although the goblin and the gremlin have
very similar statistics, when matched against each other, the goblin
will be twice as effective if it's commanded by a barbarian (+4 attack)
and the gremlin is commanded by an alchemist (+0 attack). As in pre-
vious HEROES games, you want to create a killer superhero and have
him initiate the majority of your offensive strikes.

IT MIGHT BE MAGIC

All magic in HEROES Ml falls under four elemental schools: Air,
Earth, Fire, and Water. Every hero's command of magic is dependent on
whether he chooses to learn the Air, Earth, Fire, and Water skills. Each
skill allows the hero to cast spells in that school at greater effective-
ness. In addition, having the matching skill will make all spells in that
school cheaper to cast. While you can still cast a spell even if you don't
have the appropriate skill, it would behoove you to learn that skill as
quickly as possible for both the increased effect and lowered cost. Here
a rundown of each school's pros and cons.

Air This school has excellent movement spells for the adventure
(strategic) map. Both Fly and Dimension Door are excellent for moving
around the map, and the latter practically triples your move. If you
master Air magic, you can cast Dimension Door four times a day. The
Air school has two potent attack spells — Lightning Bolt and Chain
Lightning — but few other direct-damage spells. The all-important Haste
spell — a must-have for slow troops — is an Air spell.

Earth ■ This school has not only the effective Meteor Swarm spell but
also the most powerful offensive spell in the game; Implosion. In addi-
tion, the very useful Town Portal spell belongs to this school. If you mas-
ter Earth magic, you can specify the town to which you want to teleport.

Otherwise, you teleport
to the nearest town
without an occupying
hero. The undead spells
(Animate Dead, Death
Ripple, Destroy
Undead) all belong to
the Earth school.

Fiiie;

Fire is heavy

on offensive magic, with spells such as Fireball, Inferno, and
Armageddon. However, this school has neither a spell quite as destruc-
tive as Implosion nor one so far-reaching as Chain Lightning. This
school does have some interesting augmentation magic, such as
Bloodlust (increases attack rating) and Frenzy (adds all defense points
to your attack rating). However, Fire is probably the weakest of the
game's schools.

Water The Water school has many powerful augmentation spells,
including Bless (maximum damage), Mirth (increase morale), Teleport
(move anywhere on the map), and Prayer (Increase attack, defense, and
speed). This school lacks effective attack magic, but is the best for
enhancing your troops in battle.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

/.compulcfgaming.t

Special Advertising Section

One-stop shopping

PC Magazine
Editor’s Choice Award

' Year 2000 Compliant

Microsoft® Office®
2000 Compliant

EDITORS’

CHOICE

[i]iNLIST

“Norton SystemWorhs combines the best individual utilities
with the best integration we’ve seen yet in a utility suite."
-Windows Magazine, May 1999

a n t e c

SYMANTEC.

Special Advertising Section

Symantec is the world leader
software for business

UTILITY SOLUTIONS

Syiiuiiilec keeps your computer working around the clock. No
viruses, no junk, no crashes, no barriers to accomphshingyotir
gods. That's exactly the way conil)iitin!’ should be. And with tlie
full Norton line of protection softwai'e, that's the way it is. To get
stalled buy one of our award-winning solutions. Notion AntiVirus"'
is the #1 anti-virus software in the world. Norton Utilities'" is the
#i problem solving software with over 15 milhon users.

Notion Crashtiuard'" jtrotects agdnst compiiier cntshes with more
]iower to save your WDi'k from I’d crtLshes. Notion CleiinSweep'" is
the 1/1 choice for hard drive cle;m-itp. Or for miLximum protection
get all of these award-winnitig products in one integrated suite,
Norton SystemWorks'." Don't forget Norton 2()00r the best way
to addre.ss year 2001) problems on your PC.

Special Advertising Section

in utility and communication
and personal computing.

COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS

Symantec also gives you the tools for working at home or on the
road. In today’s world, you need to he able to work from virtually
anywhere with anybody. That's why Synuintec de\'eloped a whole
line of remote productivity softwtu'e that help you stay in touch so
you can get your work done — from (wyivbere at anytime. ACT!’“
gives you instant acce,ss to all your customer information. Winlux
PRO’“ is the world’s first choice for eiLsy and reliable hexing.

TalkWorlcs PRO”' helps sniidl businesses have a |)rofessional voice by
bringing voicemail and telephone capabilities to your desktop.
pcTelecomnuite'" is the first complete solution designed exclusively
for telecommuters. pc,An\where’“ gives you the hestest ;utd easiest
access to your office PC, from ;myxvhere.

For more information go to www.symantec.com

SYMANTEC

GET ONE

You’ve got them all.

Buy me now, buy me at

gigabuys

BY DELL

and other leading resellers

Symantec, llie Symantec logo, ACT', Noiion AniiVirus, Norton CleanSweop, Norton CtasliGuard, Norton Utilities, pcAnywhere and WinFax ate U S. registered
trademarks of Symantec Corporation and its subsidiaries. Norton 2000. Norton SystemWorks, Norton Web Services. pcTelecommute. and TalkWoiks PRO, are
trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Windows and the Windows logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countnes.
Other brands nnd products ore trademarks of their respective holder/s.

WWW. Symantec, com

SYMANTEC

CHOOSING YOUR TOWN

I f you are going to play one of the more expensive town types —
tower, castle, or dungeon — always take the bonus for extra
resources. Likewise with the rampart — even though it's cheaper —
because you need the extra crystal to build the Pegasus dwelling.

CasdeTown

The game’s strongest town, the castle has
excellent units throughout the tech tree.
Upgrade your archers and swordsmen early and
you will have arguably the game's best early-
level ranged unit and the best mid-level melee
attacker, respectively.

THE DUNGEON Although the castle town is the strongest, this
. dungeon formation can beat an army of like-level castle troops.

Inferno Town

Although the inferno is stronger
than the fortress town, all inferno
units (except for the seventh-level
devil) are pretty slow. In addition,
most inferno units lack significant
upgrades. Creature-
wise, this town loses
out to most others,
and its only saving
grace is having pow-
erful magic.

and then behemoths or go for ranged units and
the ore, then the ogre, and finally the cyclops.
The stronghold's creatures have low hit points
and defense, but you'll have high attack, so go
on the offensive early. The town is also very
weak in magic.

THE PORTRESS it has a serious lack of might and magic, and requires
more wood for building dwellings than any other town type.

Dur^eonTown

The dungeon has average-strength early units,
but from levels three to seven it has very pow-
erful creatures (with the exception of the sixth-
level manticore). Having two strong ranged
attackers in the midgame (levels three and
four) gives you incredible firepower and allows
you to pick off the slower troops of the tower,
rampart, and inferno towns. Add in the fifth-
level minotaur. which is as strong as several
sixth-level troops, and you have the only
midgame army that might be better than the
castle's. This town provides excellent magic.

Necropolis

This town is schizophrenic. Its
liches, knights, and upgraded
vampire lord are extremely pow-
erful, but the second-, third-, and
seventh-level creatures are
extremely weak. If you do play
this town, scramble up the tech
tree to get the three good units

and bypass the third- ^...

level wraith, which you f THE STRONGHOLD Build a wolf pen, a roc's nest, and finally the
never need to build, \behemoth lair to gain the mighty behemoth unit in only three turns.

For more on winning HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC III. visit GameSpot's

WWW, gameguides.com and download the nearly ZOO-page HEROES III game guide. (See the /?evfeiv~|

Fortress Town

This town is the weakest in the game. It has a
barely average first-level unit. Its second-level
unit, the lizardman, is the game's weakest
ranged attacker. Add to that a fatal lack of
strength and staying power for its sixth- and
seventh-level units, and you have a town that
can't really stand toe-to-toe with any other. The
only highlights are the gorgon and basilisk,
although they are most effective in large num-
bers. This town is also incredibly weak in magic.
To add insult to injury, the fortress town needs
an exorbitant amount of wood, so you'll need
at least three wood mills.

Rampart

This town has very slow creatures, so it is
imperative that you get the Pegasus unit early
to have a chance at gaining initiative in battles.
Make sure to upgrade the elven archers to
grand elves, which enables them to shoot twice.

Stronghold

The stronghold has some powerful melee
units but lacks any ranged strength for much of
the game, mostly because the path to the
cyclops is so expensive. This town has two very
distinct building tracks. You can either climb up
the tech tree and go for wolf riders, then rocs,

Tower

The tower is the most expensive town in
terms of unit cost and building dependen-
cies, The first two units (gremlin and gar-
goyle) are pretty weak, especially when you
factor in the physical weakness of this
town's heroes. However, the tower is very
strong in magic. If you go with the tower,
you need magic to bolster your troops, and
you must go for the naga queens and titans
as fast as possible. The town's creatures are
all slow, which is yet another disadvantage
in combat.

.computergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

Experience gaming with next generation technologies from InterAct
Accessories -manufacturers of today's most advanced and dependable
controllers, speakers and accessories including Advent’
PoweredPartners and Jensen' Multimedia Speakers, force feedback
racing wheels and GameShark."' I

For the bare facts of Jensen's new multimedia sound products, visit us at www, jensenpc.com

CIVILIZATION: CALL TO POWER

Continued from Page 169

BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

B arbarians are the embodiment of chaos theory
in CALL TO POWER. Here are a few ways to
impose order on the madness:

1 . You know those villages that you always sweat
over entering, because you don't know whether
they hold the promise of shiny new gold, a welcome
technological advance, or the threat of a Barbarian
horde? Wait to explore those close to your empire
until you've built a city near them: A village within
your city limits (the two-space radius) won't spawn a Barbarian.

2. A corollary to this is that the CALL TO POWER program doesn't like to give
you the same village result within the same turn. So, consider exploring three
to four outlying villages on the same turn. While you might get a Barbarian,
you are almost certain to get a free advance.

3. Also, keep in mind that there's about a 50-50 chance that the free
advance you discover will be the one you are already researching, So, you

might take a chance and bump down your sci-
ence output during this turn, until you see what
gifts you get.

4, If a Barbarian should capture one of your
cities, consider building a trade route to it before
you recapture the city. You'll make money in the
short term, and it's a good step toward a monop-
oly in many cases.

5. If a Barbarian is making progress against
another empire, send a Spy or Cyber Ninja to shadow the Barbarian. If the
Barbarian gets lucky and captures an enemy city, you can Incite Revolution
and grab the city without starting a war with the former owner of that city.
Your action will cause that nation to drop one happiness level toward you, but
this negative effect is well worth it to gain a city. Also, this action does not
cause any adverse effect on your reputation vis-a-vis other countries, besides
the one on which you pulled this wicked trick.

SOLVING THE HAPPINESS PROBLEM

Direct Happiness Effect Indirect Happiness Effect

Lowers Crime

Temple

Reliqion -+ 270

N/A

Courthouse

Jurisprudence -+270

N/A

-50% Crime

Theater

Philosophy -+495

-+1^

N/A

Coliseum

Enqineerinq -+ 1,305

N/A

Hospital

Medicine + 2,250

N/A

-3 Overcrowdinq

Cathedral

Perspective -+ 2,475

N/A

Movie Palace

Electrification •+ 1,500

N/A

-1 00% War Discontent

Druq Store

Pharmaceuticals -+ 3,000

+3^

N/A

Security Monitor

A1 Surveillance -+ 4,000

N/A

-50% Crime''

Aqua-Filter

Fuel Cells + 8,000

N/A

-5 Overcrowdinq

Arcoloqies

Arcoloqies -+ 5,000

N/A

•4 Overcrowdinq

House of Freezinq

Crvonics -+ 5,000

N/A

Mind Controller

Mind Control -+ 10,000

Special Defense^

Body Exchanqe

Life Extension -+ 1 0,000

-+3

N/A

Notes:

^ Doubles the effectiveness of Entertainers by providing a permanent venue.

2 +5 in aTheocracy because of boost in faith, +1 in Communism because religion is the opiate of the masses.

^ -^25 Production units per tum because increased health means more reliable man houn.

^ -too percent Pollution and +25 percent Production.

^ +S Happiness in a Theocracy because citizens can ''die" and have their taste of heaven and then come back to life.
^ freezes Happiness Quotient at a very safe 75,

^ 50 percent chance to prevent Convert City attack and 100 percent chance to prevent Capture Slaves attack.

WOLFPACK ATTACK

G iven that Subs can be seen only by a
handful of units (and Cities with Sonar
Buoys), they can wreak havoc on your
Aircraft Carriers and even your Battleships if
left unchecked. The classic method is to seek
them out with Destroyers and sink them
with a combination of Destroyers and
Aircraft.

So, what do you do when you want your
Subs to send your opponent's tonnage to
the bottom of the ocean? During World War
II, the Germans developed the tactic of
sending large groups of Subs, called
Wolfpacks, to overwhelm unsuspecting prey.
It's a little more difficult to manage this in
CALL TO POWER, but the idea is still valid.

The best method we've found is to put

together a
Wolfpack
of four or
more Subs

and hold them off a couple of spaces. Then,
send out one or two other solo Subs to try
to break through the "picket line" of
Destroyers that's spread out, trying to pro-
tect the valuable Carriers and Battleships.

If the solo Subs get through, fine — but
chances are good that at least one of them
will be detected. The computer is not terri-
bly disciplined, and it will often break up its
Destroyer picket line to converge on your
Sub and kill it. This generally opens up a
hole for you to plunge through with your
Wolfpack and head straight for the juicier
enemy targets.

• Most units with Ranged Attacks are
much more effective in the second row than
in the first. So, make sure that you have a
balanced force, with plenty of front line
troops to protect your Ranged Attack units.

A good example of this would be to have
only half as many Archers, for example, as
you have Legions, Samurai, and/or Phalanxes
combined in a particular force.

• Normally, units controlled by a computer
player are less likely to attack when they
have less than a movement point remaining
(if they have been moving down a road, for
example). If you move to where your unit is
at the far end of the computer unit's move-
ment range (such as just alongside, but not
on, a road) the computer's unit is likely to
move next to you, but not attack you at
unfavorable odds. This allows you to attack
the defending computer unit on your next
turn or to reinforce with other units if the
odds are unfavorable for you.

• Keep track of your opponent's aircraft:
Some of them are almost certainly operat-
ing at the farthest range of which they are
capable. In such a case, all you have to do is
place a row of Air units between them and
their refueling base. When the enemy Air
units can't get home, they crash — quick, sim-
ple, and deadly. Remember, there are no aer-
ial zones of control,
so your aerial block-
ade must consist of a
solid line of aircraft,
with no holes. When
executing this tactic,
Terry especially likes
using obsolete air-
craft. 333

The complete CALL TO POWER guide has tips on how to
conduct blitz attacks, set up mobile defenses, and carry
out a Clerical or Televangelist agenda. It also dissects
wonders, explains technology advances, and suggests the
best times to switch governments. Besides, the guide
confirms our suspicions that Terry and Johnny are
secretly Ecoterrorists at heart.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD - JULY 1999

/, computergaiTnng.com

the secret hides.

the truth consumes.

In a time of chaos, in a city on the brink of destruction, only you can discover the truth.

' lariOv- ;;,: ;

An RPG / Strategy game. Coming this Faii.

'fWT&RAcrfve

www.lith.com

Odium and the “M" logo are trademarks of Monolith Productions, Inc.
Go to #139 @ www.comouteraamina.com/infoHnk

LUUJLJJ.BF=im

.czam

LUH

MOOLU

Live from the show floor!

GameSpot's E3News.com is the ultimate guide to gaming's ultimate show.
E3 1999 promises to be the best ever, and we will be there with more
previews, more screen shots, and more insider buzz than ever before.

www.E3news.com

Effect

Lay a circle of track that j
crosses a competitor's '
layout as much as possi- i
ble, build a dummy sta-
tion with a roundhouse i
and water towers, and
then run a train with
the maximum number
of cars. Run two trains, L - -
if you like, in order to
thoroughly clog the opposition's rail net.

especially on longer runs, that if your train's oil level is one
notch above empty, the chance for a breakdown doubles.

the economic power of renewable resources: A well-placed
cluster of cattle yards will produce enormous quantities of
milk and moolah. — Sam Baker

Heroes nl Minht and Manic 111

During play, press and then enter any of the following:

Code

nwcantioch

nwcavertingoureyes...

nwccastleanthrax

nwccoconuts

nwcgencraldirection....
nwcmuchrejoycing ..
nwcshrubbery..,.

...all siege weapons
... all structures
...maximum luck
...unlimited movement
...entire map is revealed
...maximum morale

...+100 all resources and +10,000 gold

esl Ftont

where you exit units off the map,
you should resist the urge to slaugh- 1
ter the enemy and hold all victory
hexes. Try grabbing one or two |
hexes close to the exit and letting |
the enemy batter himself against j
your rear guard while you hustle the '
bulk of your force off the battlefield.

Empty trucks are fine candidates for cheap victory points.

generally don't come when you need them, and it's almost guaranteed
that they won't hit the targets you specify. So, rather than whine about
it, point the flyboys in the general direction of a target-rich environ-
ment and let them have some fun. — Jim Cobb

GAMERS EDGE

N ri I U-

CHEAT CODES • HINTS • WALKTHROUGHS

cwoksrule

masteryoda

killmenow

Ihetasteofvictory

hypermeto##

invulnerable

unlimited ammo
lose the level
win the level

warp to different level, where ##
is the number of the level

■ l I'lMlfHI III I

EverOuest

In early-level play, never go into combat
without first considering your opponent:

Either select /Cons or right-click on the
targeted enemy. Opponents that show
up as blue are easy targets, but they
still give you needed experience.

Opponents with colors below blue on
the scale, like black or green, aren't worth your time. While you can try your
luck with yellow enemies, you should get another party member to help you.
Finally, never fight an enemy that shows up as either white or red, unless you
have an army with you — or you’re feeling suicidal. — Thierry Nguyen

Army Men 2

Enter message mode by press-
ing \ and then type iwhen all
else fails... (including the ...) to
enable cheat mode. Rnally,
enter one of the codes below
to activate a cheat.

iacme discs
. laluminum foil
ibeautiful nikita
Ifourth of July
!god of gamblers
Igeronimol
Ignomish inventions
11 have a rock
Ino rocket launcher
! paper dolls
! roach spray
(ruby ray
iviliage people

land mines
flak jacket
infinite sniper rifle
M-80

random item, sometimes infinite
12 free air strikes
explosives

infinite hand grenades
infinite rocket launcher
paratroopers
infinite aerosol spray
infinite magnifying glass
infinite flamethrower

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « Jl

1999

Save Time and Money
Ordering Games by Phone!

Local Stores don't always have the games you're look-
ing for or the expert advice you need. Take a
few minutes to browse the next few pages and shop
with the courteous, experienced salespeople in

Computer Gaming World's Mail Order Mall!

THEGREr

itei Pentium Celeron 400MHz

l/gh-Performance Heatsink/Fan Cooling System

itel 440BX Motherboard w/512K Cache

4MB SDRAM (PC-100)

loppy Drive 1.44MB

.4GB Ultra DMA Hard Drive

DFX Voodoo III w/1 6MB TV-Out 2X AGP

kureal Vortex II Super-Quad Sound Card

Ireative Labs SB20 Speaker System

OX CD-ROM Player

TX Mid-Tower Case w/235 Watt Power Supply

04-Enhariced Keyboard

ticrosott Intelllmouse PS/2

'.90 56K Fax/Modem

/llcrosoft Windows '96 Operating System

'ree installation & configuration of

jvorite games & latest drivers

■RICE; $899.00

nwiE.

NOWFEATURIHGTNm
INTHESAMESYSTEMfl
USING OUR EXClUSIUE TECliOtOGY

THE HIVE-MIND '

itel Pentium III 500MHz SSE Processor
ligh-Performance Duai Heatsink/Fan Cooiing
itei 440BX Motherboard W/512K Cache
28MB SDRAM (PC-100)

’loppy Drive 1 .44MB

3M Deskstar 14GXP 14.4GB (7200 RPM)

MEW Nvidia TNT2 Ultra W/32MB TV-Out 4X AGP
>urea1 Vortex ii Super-Quad Sound Card
Cambridge 4-Point Speaker/Subwoofer System
lOX CD-ROM Player

TX Fuii-Tower Case w/300 Watt Power Supply
KoolMaxx) Video Cooling System
04-Enhanced Keyboard
licrosoft intellimouse PS/2
IS Robotics V.90 56K Fax/Modem
licrosoft Sidewinder Precision Pjo
licrOToft Windows '98 Qperatirig System
ree ingMiatiW-^Wliguration of
ivorite latest drivers

■RIGE; $2,199.00

THEAREA51"

MONITORS

T ViewSonic V73 .26dp add:

7* ViewSonic G73 .26dp add:

9' ViewSonic V95 .26dpadd:

9' ViewSonic PS790 .25dp add:
r ViewSonic P810 .25dpadd:
1' ViewSonic P815 .25dp add:

3295.00
$325.00
$485.00
$575.00
$950.00
$1075.00 .

TOIL FREE: (8001 49^382

itel Pentium III 550MHz SSE Processor
ligh-Performance Dual Heatsink/Fan Cooling
itel 440BX Motherboard W/512K Cache
56MB SDRAM (PC-100)
loppy Drive 1.44MB

3M Deskstar 22GXP 22GB (7200 RPM)

Tomise UltraGS IDE Controller

'MEW Nvidia TNT2 Ultra w/32MBTV-Out 4X AGP

DFX Voodoo III w/1 6MB TV-Out PCI

lureal Vortex Ii Super-Quad Sound Card

Cambridge 5.1 Desktop Theater (Dolby-Digital)

Ipeaker/Subwoofer System

X DVD Player 3rd Generation

NEW" Iomega Internal ZIP Drive 250MB

TX Full-Tower Case w/300 Watt Power Supply

<oolMaxx) Video Cooling System

04-Enhanced Keyboard

llcrosoft Intellimouse PS/2

IS Robotics V.90 56K Fax/Modem

dicrosoft Sidewinder Precision Pro .

ilicrosoft Sidewinder Gamepad

dicrosoft Windows '98 Operating System

ree installation & configuration of

ivorite games & latest drivers

■RICE; $3499.00

Now bunding GameSpy
WWW.GIUIIESPr.COM

"AWARO-WINNING
GAMING SYSTEMS'

CHIPS&BITSinc.

POB 234 DEPT 11154
ROCHESTER, VT 05767
INT’L 802-767-3033 FAX 802-767-3382

COMPUTER GAMES: SIMULATION

COMPUTER GAMES: HARDWARE

COMPUTER GAMES: ACTION

COMPUTER GAMES: ADVENTURE

COMPUTER GAMES: SPORTS

S39.99 Hiyl) Heat Bseball 2K 0^/99 $26.99 PCACaampionship Golf 05/99 $26.99

$24.99
$16.99

PC:BUNDLES

HINT BOOKS I

Aguaaone 2 Deiuia 06/99
Archives 4 03/99

Balllegd: Coin or 2 ea 01/99
BiuidGimsYearClIcth 02/99
DeerHnl2 EklSsnComg 06/99
Forgotin Rims Arcvs 2 05/99

Grand Then Auto wExp 04/99
Hasbro Family Game Pck 03/99
Hasbro Suategy Game Pk 02/99
Jouiniyman Prict Ttigy 05/99
OpArtWarrElilaEd 05/99
Pana Cmmdr/Pana Gen 2 02/99
Quake 2 Bndl-The Olirng 02/99
Quake Quad Damage 03/99
SlarciaK BUI Chest 12/96
Slarsiege Ballle ChesI 11/99
Tot Annihiltn Comm Pk 1 1/98
Ultimate WW2 Gme Cllctn 02/99
West Front: Elite Ediin 07/99

SONY PLAYSTATION

Jurassic Park/Warpath
KBgsro:DocBptlpn2
Knockout Kings 2000
begacy Kain Soul Reavr
Legend ol Legala
Lunar Silver Star Story
MLB Pennant Race 2000
Madden Football 99
MatvelSptHero Vs, Sr
Metal Gc.ir Solid
Mprt.Kombal Spec Farces
NASCAR 99
NBA Shootout 2000
NHL Hockey 99
Need lor Speed 4

09/90 S44.99
10/96 $46.99
10/99 $44.99
06/99 $4699
03/99 $42.99
05/99 $59.99
04/99 $44.99
09/98 $42.99
03/99 $44.99
10/98 S49.99
10/99 $48.99
09/96 $42.99
09/99 $44,99
09/96 $44.99
04/99 $42.99

PSX Dual Analog Contr
PSX System
Parasile Eve 2
Point Blank 2 w/Gun
Populous 3
R4:R>dge Racer Type4
Rampage Universal Tpnr
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
SaGa Frontier 2
SlroellighlerAlphaB
Suikoden 2
Super Cross 2000
Tomorrow Never Dies
Triple Play 2000
Waraone 2100

05/98 $29.99
06/965139 99
06/99 $49.99
05/99 $56.99
04/99 $39.99
05/99 $44.99
04/99 $42.99
09/99 $46.99
06/99 $49.99
05/99 $41 99
07/99 $48.99
05/99 $46.99
08/99 $46.99
03/99 $42.99
04/99 $46.99

fl World Grand Pn>!2
KenGrilleyBB2
Legend olZelda
Mario Parly 01

Mort. Kombat Spec Force 09/99 $64.99
N64 System Purple 11/96S139.99

HEAVY GEAR 2’ New 3-D hard-
ware-only engine enables you to
experience a new level ol lighlning
last combat action, as well as
indoor bailies, realistic physics, &
pholo-reaiislic terrain & graphics.
Battleiields are set on mulllple
planets and Include sv/amps.
grasslands, volcanic areas, arctic
zones. & urban base sites. New
mission design allows complex
squad commands.

Activision (Action)

‘STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE
PHANTOM MENACE' Luke's lalher
is a D-year-old boy. Anakin, who
doesn't know ol his late as a
Lord, Your mission: Take on
roles ol a young Obi-Wan Kerobi,
Jedi Waster Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen
Amidala and Captain Panaka.
Solve dozens ol puzzles. Weapons
include light-sabers, droid
ners, blasters & Force Push pow-
ers. Battle hordes ol enemies
including destroyer droids, merce-
naries and the evil Darth
Lucas Arts(Arcade)

Release: 5/99 PC CD

‘FINAL FANTASY VIM'

Through an iniricate balance ol
stoty, graphics, and sound, Ihe
crealois oi Final Fantasy express
Iheir ihoughls and feelings in a
sloiy brought to life through high
quality graphics and elegantly
composed sound and music.
Characters gain comta! experi-
ence points even it they turn and

'QUAKE ir Quake was just
foreplay. Now comes Quake
II. Includes larger, mission
based levels, superior artiti-
clnl intelligence, and wicked
multiplayer capabilities.
Experience smoother 16 bit
graphics and real-time light-
ing effects.

Activision (Shooter)
Release: 6/99

‘RACER’ Experience the
I pumping excitement ol Ihe
' sequence from Star Wars: Episode
Take the controls as Jedi-to-be Anakin
I Skywalker. or any one ol over 20
I Podracers.

C5W7a9PI

www.chipsbits.com
or caii 1-800-6994263

Source Code 11154

COMPUTER GAMES: STRATEGY

Tinr Reiuu

Vge Errpiios Finl Conqsi 07/98
4gB ol Empires 10/97

4geol Empires 2 09/99

4goot Empires Sold Ed 03/99
Age alEmpisGnosI Ages 10/98
Age o1 Emprs Rise Rme 11/98
Age ot Workers 06/99
Aitlioe Tycoon 04/99

Alpha Centaurl 02/99

AncntCnosirGidnFice 05/99
Armored Moon 02/98

ArmyMerr 05/98

ArmyMerr 2 03m

A>iS & Allies 09/98

Baltlecrser3000AOi/2 12/98
6aItlecri]iser2020AD D6m

C&C2;Ti|)en]nSiin 06.99
11/98

Dark Reign 2
Dark Reign MR 1
Dark Reign MP 2
Deadlock 2
Domifiani Species
Dominion Storm
Dune 2000

CSC Gold B'
C&C Red All

CSCWi

$34 99
$26.99
$26.99
$29.99
$39.99
$17.99
$44.99
$34 99
$49 99
$19.99
$26.99
$25.99

0aesai3 10/98 $

CaesarOExpPck 10/99 !
Civ2FaiilasyWoilds 11/97 $
Civ 2 Multiplayer Gold Ed 12/98 $
:iv2T(slolTime 06/99 S
Civrlfln Call lo Powr 04/99 S
Call Duty 04/99 S
W95 02/99

ConoueslNewWoild2 11/99
Conouesi.FrftirWars 06/99
Creatures 2 09/98
Creatures 2 Deluxe 03/99
Drealures3 10/99
Crealutes Lrle Krll 01/93
CutltiroalS 09/99

$19.99

$29.99

$46.99

$43.99

$3S.99

$28.99

$37.99

$14.99

Earth 2150
Emergency
Emergency Room 2
Empire of the Anls

Entrepreneur CorpExp
Evotution
Ekiteme Tactics
Final Countdown
Fleet Command
Force 21

Force Commander
Freelancer
Galilean Conflict
Gangsters

Heroes M&M 2 Cold
Heroes ol M & M 3
Holl/WQod Mogul v2.5
Homeworld
Impenalism 2
Impenum Galaclica 2

IncuhallomWilderness
Industry Giant
Jakkal: Reshr-Bones
KKND2
KKND Eitreme
Knighls & Uerchanls

10/98 $39.99 SimMars

ROLE PLAYING | H PC: ADULT GAMES "]

COMPUTER GAMES: WAR

9 $19.99
9 $39.99
9 $44.99

nd9:Ctiickmoua 01/99 $

AmerOvilWar 10/99 $55.99

;ommand 2 09/99 $29.99

ArSSlan 06m $45.99

OperalionVrcl OSm $18.99

gineRerch 12/00 $44.99

II Pk 1-5 ea 09/98 $22.99

It 2 04/99 $44 99

Steel 0S.m $49 99

ly.BlltScly 09m $29.99

Last Battles 45 09m

WanoiV/af2 05m

13201400 1813 07m

north Vs. South 02/99

OperArt V/arExp Pk t
Opel Art War Exp Pk 2
Oprtn An War 2 Mon Wi
Pacific Battles
Panzer Gen 3: Assault
Panzer General 2 w/Gde
People's General
Poin!olAllack2
RedThndnVcIryin East I
Road Id Moscow
Shogun: Toial War
Smolensk 10 Moscow
Steel Panthers 4
Tides of War
V/ar Along the Mohawk
War in Europe
V/arin the East. 1-5 ea
Warhammer 40K: Univrs
V/est Front
West Front BUI Pck 1
WfhmmrdOK; Rites War

9 S19.99
9 $22.99
9 $44.99
9 S39.99

$29.99
$29.99
$35 99
$44.99
$46 99
$34 99
$46 99
$24 99
$19 99
$39.99
$24.99
$37 99
$34.99
$26.99
$42.99

AOSO Players Handbook 02/95 $28.99

AD&0TSRJam 99 04/99 $1099

Altcriiity Gamemaster 6ui0e05/9e $24.99
At5 Magica 08/95 $25.99

Cyberpunk 2020 05/95 $17.99

10/97 S27.99
09/96 S2I.99
CI&99 $25.99
06/95 $17,99
02/95 $22.99
06/95 $26.99
10/95 $19.99
07/95 $13.99
05/95 $19.99
OCm $21.99
04/95 $11.99
10.98 $28.99
01/97 $27.99
1098 $27.99
02/95 $24.99

Earthdawn
GURPS Rulebook
Heavy Gear
MERP 2 Sohcovet
Mecnwarrior
Pendragon 4lh Ed.

Rihs

Ro Poteen

ShadPV/iun Grrl Edition
StaiWais Revised
Vampire 3r0 Edition
Weiewoll

Ace In ihe Hole
AladOmi City ol Sin
Arabian Nigtils
Busty Babes 4
Cabin Fever
Calchin' Kylie
Days ol Oblivion
Diva X Taylor
Girlfriend Donna

Net Eiotitiue
Poker Party
Pyramid Maze
Sex With Fairah
Space Sirens 2
Sliip Poker Pro 2
Tokyo Nymphs
Ulna Vixen 2
Vampire's Kiss
Virtual ValBiie 2
X-Ploration Female Ba

10/97 $29,99
04/98 $29.99
03/98 $39.99
11/95 $36.99
07/97 $39 9 9
09/96 $30.99
11/98 $49 99
08/98 $29.99
12/96 $39.99
07/98 $29 99
02/96 $19 99
06/95 $39.99
08i98 $39.99
07/98 $42 99
09/95 $34 99
12/95 $3999
04/96 $12 99
12/98 $39.99
1094 $29 99
0895 $29 99
! 1093 $39 99

COMPUTER GAMES: ROLEPLAYING

BOARD GAMES

ADiDCie Rules 2.0 Exp 0699
Ananctiionox 09/99

Ancient Evil 02/99

Baldrs Gate Exp Pk 2 12/99

Ba'drsGte TaleSwidCsl 04/99
BatdurGaiew/EPI 08/99
Baldur's Gale 1298

Clans 0699

}aik Slone 05m

DeusEx 1199

OiatME iQ.m

Diablo 2 Expnsn Pck 1299
Diablo Vengeance Pack 1299
Disciples: Sacied Lands 0599
EveiQuesl 03m

$29.99

is: Snctuaiy of

0599

04/99

$45.99 icgacyotxain?

$23.99 Legend of BladeUaster

$1999 MightSMagio7

$48.99 Mordor2

$39.99 Neophyte Episode ill

$45 99 Nox 0699

$44,99 Odium 0999

$43.99 PlanescapeToimeni 0699

$46 99 Rage Mages 2 Necromcr 0899

$48.99 Revenanl 08m

$48 99 SeplerraCore 1099

$29 99 Silver 0599

$29 99 Swords S Sorcery t)9.m

$44 99 Ultima 9 Ascension 0799

$4899 Ultima Online: 2nd Age 1198

$29.99 Vampire: The Masquerde 1199

$48.99 Weiewolt. Apocalypse 1299

$48.99 Wizardry 8 0699

$44.99

$29.99

$44.99

$48.99

$36.99

$39.99

12/94 $42.99 Harpoon Box Si

08/98 S34.99 Lionheeit

1194 $45.99 Risk

03m $25.99 Robo Rally

12/94 $21.99 ScrabbleOIx

Euiopa 1945-2030

11/96 $45.99
10, 97 $35.99
03/96 $34,99
01/96 $36,99
08/97 $49 99
11/96 $3299
11/96 $99.99

FREE GAME OFFER!

Spend the specified amount on any In-siGck sollwaie and choose one Irei
ISM game from the cotiesponding ilsl, Request must be made al time of
Older. Oiler good on in-stack software only, while supplies Iasi. LImll 2 per
customer. Valid Ihiaugh July 5 ,1999.

I $60 Realms Aikania Trilogy CD, Solitaire's Journey 3.5.Total
em CD.VItus CD

I SIOO Ravenloll 1&2 CD, Red Baton/AIO CD, Star Trek Genorallons
CO, Wizardry Gold CO

Spend $200 Falcon Gold CD, Jagged Alliance Deadly Games CO. M.A.X. CD,
Under a Killing Moon CD

Visa, MC & Discover accepted. Checks held 4 weeks. Morey Orders under S200 same as cash. COD S8. Price, releose, availablliiy, slilpping limes

& oiler not guaranteed & are subject to change at any time. Hardv/are may require added S&H. Within 10 days defectives repaired or replaced at
aur discretion. Alter 10 days the manufacturer's warrantee applies. All sales final, S&H calculated on a per order, per shipment, and per item basis.
The ’per order' charge is charged once per order placed, the 'per item' charge

Go to #068 @ www.compulergaming.com/infolink

■CUTTHROATS; TERROR
THE HIGH SEAS'
a pirate ship,
a crew ol scurvv
a handful of can-
and the whole of the
plunder. You'll
altempt to make your for-
tune by engaging in terror.

robbery and
Fight realistic
battles wilh 6 types ol cus-
lomlzable ships. Raid
coastal towns: explore Ihe
Caribbean: bribe, threaten.
& extort: trade, buy sup-
lence stolen goods;
your Heel & expand
your army.

Eidos (Strategy)
Release: 9/99
PC CD

-TOTAL ANNIHILATION: KING-
DOMS' This fantasy real-time
strategy game engages you in the
struggle ol good against evil and
magic against technology. New
story line, 3-D articulated units,
missions, multiplayer maps &
worlds. Four selectable sides to
choose from, each wilh its own
unique magical & technological
abilities.

GT Interactive
(Strategy)

-STAR TREK GENERATIONS:
BIRTH OF THE FEDERATION'
Manage resources, solar systems,
and trade routes. Construct,
mamlain and relit a Starship fleet
" and engage in lurn-base 3-D
space combat! Features multiple
skill levels, galaxy sizes and other
options for long-term repiayabili-
ty. Multiplayer support for up to
five players via LAN, direct con- '
necl, modern and internet,

IVlieroprose (Strategy)

Virgin (Strategy)
Release: 6/99
PC CD

'PLAHESCAPE; TORMENT' The
producers of Baldur's Gate (using
Ihe same game engine) introduce
Ihe 1st computer RPG set in me
AO&D Planescape campaign
world. An epic story of an immor-
lal character who suffers from
amnesia and must search lor his
own past, identity and destiny.
Curiosity, fear, greed, survival,
self-defense and revenge drive the
character toward an unlorgeDable
end. Interplay (Roleplaying)
Release; 7/99
PC CD

■MIGHT S MAGIC VII: FOR
BLOOD AND HONOR' The game
continues where the Iasi one left
oil, taking players 1 o another con-
tinent in Ihe world ol Enroth. The
world is populated by intelligent
non-player characters and beasts.
Move during turn-based combat,
concentrated indoor designs with
battles staged in specific rooms
(no more goblins in the closet), &
customizable keyboard controls.

3DO (Roleplaying)
^ Release: 6/99
PC CD

ADVERTISER INDEX Order Free Product Information @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

INFO#

COMPANY

PRODUCT

PAGE

•

3D0 Co.

Gulf War

144

•

3D0 Co.

High Heat Baseball

14-15

Access Software

Links Extreme

142-143

210

Game Dealer

117

■

Activision

Battlezone II

12-13

•

Activision

Multi-Product Ad

C2-C4, 1

220

Alexander Harris Distrib. Inc.

187

105

Alienware

Alienware Systems

183

•

America On-Line

CD ROM onsert

onsert

•

ATI Technologies, Inc.

Rage Fury Board

115

161

Aureal Semiconductor

A3D

107

280

Blue Byte Software

Settlers III Mission Pack

150-151

109

Bungie Software

Oni

112-113

160

CD-ROM Access

187

Chips & Bits

www.cdmag.com/chips.html

184-185

Cockpit Collection

Keyboard Covers

137

Dell Computer Corp.

C5-C8

•

Diamond Multimedia Sys, Inc. Viper

110

169

DICE

187

100

Digital Addiction

Sanctum: Oppositions

150

Eidos Interactive

Braveheart

54-55

153

Eidos Interactive

Formula One

18-19

151

Eidos Interactive

Revenant

49-51

272

Eidos Interactive

Soulreaver: Legacy of Kain

52-53

290

Eidos Interactive

Tomb Raider II Gold

56-57

Electronic Arts

Flight Unlimited 3

82,83

133

Eutronics

187

257

Falcon - Northwest

Falcon Northwest

123

Gathering of Developers

Dark Stone

67, 69

123

Gathering of Developers

Dark Stone

71,73

122

Gathering of Developers

Grand Theft Auto

124

Gathering of Developers

RailRoad Tycoon II

163

GT Interactive

Unreal Tournament

156-157

•

Hasbro Interactive

Worms: Armageddon

147

•

Hasbro Interactive

Civilization 11: The Test of Time

64-65

•

Hasbro Interactive

MechWarrior 3

8-9

•

Hasbro Interactive

Star Trek: Birth of a Federation

155

•

Hot-B

Beat Down

Gamespot

180

•

Infogrames

Outcast

•

Interact Accessories, Inc.

Advent Speakers

176-177

1 INFO#

COMPANY

PRODUa

PAGE

176

Interactive Magic

Mortyr

126

175

Interactive Magic

Seven Kingdoms

164

173

Interactive Magic

Shadow Company

160-161

Interplay

Apache Havoc

136

163

Interplay

8aldur's Gate:Tale5 of the Sword Coast 30

Interplay

Descent 3

32,35

135

Interplay

Giants

6-7

299

Interplay

Kingpin

124-125

166

Interplay

Messiah

24-25

165

Interplay

Star Trek: Star Fleet Command

2-3

261

Interplay

Torment

74-75

LucasArts Entertainment

Racer

99-102

LucasArts Entertainment

The Phantom Menace

37-40

LucasArts Entertainment

X-Wing Alliance

Micron Electronics

104-105

Microsoft

Age of Empires II

42-43

Microsoft

Midtown Madness

112

Mindscape

Rites of War

153

139

Monolith Productions

Odium

179

144

Monolith Productions

Septerra Core

94-95

188

Motorsims

Superbike

28-29

127

NovaLogic, Inc.

F-22 Lightening 3

Psygnosis

Drakan

4-5

130

Red Storm Entertainment

Force 21

138

121

Red Storm Entertainment

Rogue Spear

Saitek Industries Ltd.

Cyborg 3D Stick

139

SegaSoft Networks, Inc.

Heat

269

Sierra On-Line

Gabriel Knight III

22-23

Sierra On-Line

Homeworld

120-122

180

Sierra On-Line

Trophy Bass 3D

SouthPeak Interactive

Dark Side of the Moon - Deluxe

■ 132

157

Stargate Software

187

Strategy First

Clans

167

Strategy First

ManO'War2

158

Symantec

Norton System Works

171-174

242

Talonsoft

Hidden and Dangerous

289

THQ

Sinistar

128-129

111

ThrustMaster, Inc.

Talk n Play

109

Westwood Studios

C&C Tiberian Sun

16, 17

291

Yamaha Corp. of America

Yamaha Speakers

118

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD « JULY 1999

/.compulergnmingc

Core GameTs Club

International

> 77 ie &aiiie.i

I (/(oai/,s in ’.i'loc/t
0()ci'/ii(y/if ^6efit>eiuj

J^moest ^iHces
/00% J^na/HJuileed/

www.c0re3ameTsclub.com

As a contractor, I use dice.com and

dice.com only to keep myself employed.

have made over
a quarter of a
million dollars

last 18 months, thanks to dice.com!

high tech jobs

.dice.com

Go To #220 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

CDAccess.com '■800-959-52611

W 1.408.366-6700 V

1-408-366-9066 F

You Want Games?

http://www.cdaccess.com

Go To #160 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

> best performance for your money

> systems configured to your specifications

> only neuj. name brand subcomponents

> upgradable, open standard architectures

> referral dollar savings for repeat clients

WWW.EUTRDNICS.DQM

AMOn

Ktf!

sOnow!.

Shop and Order Online 3

w w w . s t ia r g a t e s o f t w a r e . c 0 m

Go To #133 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

call: 12151 674 ■ 9877

Go To #1 57 @ www.computergaming.com/infolink

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

ach month. 2,000 CGH/ subscribers are selected at random to rate 100 computer games. The results of that poll are combined
with the results of previous months to yield a cumulative average for the best plays in gaming. If you receive a ballot, please
return it with your ratings so that other gamers and game publishers can benefit from your feedback.

B TOP ACTION GAMES

1 Half-Life Sierra

9.24

1 2

Jedi Kniqht: Dark Forces II LucasArts

8.44

4.5

1 3

Quake II Activision

8.42

4.5

1 ^

Thief: The Dark Project Eidos

8.40

4.5

1 5

Quake Pack 1:Armaqon Id Software/Ritual

8.39

4.5

1 6

Quake Pack 2: Dissolution id Software/RoQue

6.38

1 7

Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith LucasArts

6.23

1 8

Rainbow Six: Eaglewatch Red storm

8.15

4,5

1 9

Shoqo: Mobile Armor Division Monolith

S.I4

3.5

1 to

Unreal GT interactive

8.10

TOP ADVENTURE GAMES

1 Grim Fandango LucasArts

2 Curse of Monkey island LucasArts

3 3 Sanitarium ASC Games

4 4 Zork: Grand Inquisitor Activision

5 5 Twinsen's Odyssey division

6 6 Blade Runner Virgin/Westwood

7 8 Last Express Red Orb

8 — King's Quest M^k of Eternity Sierra

9 9 Tex Murphy: Overseer Access

10 — Quest for Glory V Sierra

TOP CLASSICyPUZZLE GAMES

t 2 You Don't Know Jack 3 Berkeley Systems 7.93 4

' 2 4 Smart Games Challenge 2 Smart Games Tnc. 7.90 5

3 3 You Don't Know Jack Movies Berkeley Systems 7.88 4.5

4 7 Smart Games Challenge 3 Smart ^mes/Hasbro 7.84 4

5 5 Worms 2 MicroProse 7.75 4

6 6 You Don't Know Jack TV Berkeley Systems "7.66 2.5_

7 8 Shanghai Dynasty Activision 7.26 3

^62’ 45

8 9 Lose Your Marbles SegaSoft

9 10 Creatures II Min^c^_

10 — Jeopardy Hasbro

6.56 2.5

6-17 3.5

TOP SPORTS/RACINC GAMES

■ t

—

FIFA 99 EA Sports

9,21

4.5

r ^

NHL Hockey 99 EA Sports

9.12

Links LS 1999 Access Software

8,99

4.5

NHL 98 EA Sports

8.53

World Cup 98 EA Sports

8,50

4.5

FIFA Road to World Cup 98 EA Sports

8,35

4.5

Need for Speed III EA

8.34

NBA Live 98 EA Sports

8.18

4.5

Motocross Madness Microsoft

8.05

4.5

NFL Blitz Midway

8.03

3.5

1 TOP ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

i 1

Baldur's Gate Interplay

8.72

Ip 2

Miqht and MaqlcVI SDO/New World

8.71

4,5

Fallout Interplay

8.27

4.5

Fallout 2 Interplay

8,21

Final Fantasy VII Eldos/Sguaresoft

7.98

Hellfire Sierra

7.81

Return to Krondor Sierra Studios

7.00

2.5

Dark Earth MicroProse

6.65

3.5

Shadows Over Riva Sir-Tech

6,60

N/R

—

Lands of Lore II Westwood

6.16

N/R

TOP SIMULATION/SPACE COMBAT

1 1 1 Wing Commander: Prophecy Gold Origin

8.51 4

B 2

Longbow 2 EA/Jane's

8.41

Falcon 4.0 MicroProse/Hasbro

8.26

3.5

Wing Commander: Prophecy Origin

8.24

4.5

European Air War MicroProse

8.20

F-15 EA/Origin

8.14

4.5

WWI1 Fighters EA/Jane’s

7.97

4.5

—

Starsieqe Tribes Sierra

7.94

4.5

—

Freespace: Silent Threat interplay

7.91

Independence War Infograrnes/Ocean

7.77

1 TOP STRATEGY GAMES

StarCraft: Brood War Blizzard

9.29 5

i 2

Heroes II: Price of Loyalty 3DO/New World

8.89

StarCraft Blizzard

8.76

Total Annihilation: Core Contingency Cavedog

8.73

4.5

Total Annihilation: Battle Tactics Cavedog

8.46

3.5

—

SimCity 3000 Maxis/EA

8.20

Total Annihilation GT Inioractivo

8.19

4,5

Red Alert: Counterstrike virginAVestwood

8.09

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome Microsoft

8.04

Railroad Tycoon II Gathering of Developers

8.03

4.5

1 TOP WARGAMES

r ■'

Steel Panthers II Campaign Disk SSI

8.25 4.5

^ 2

West Front TalonSoft

8.22 4

r ^

Panzer General II SSi

8.17 5

The Operational Art of War TalonSoft

8.13 4.5

Sid Meier's Gettysburg EA/Firaxis

7.95 4.5

Battleground: Napoleon in Russia TalonSoft

7.79 4,5

Battleground: Bull Run TalonSoft

7.78 4

People's General SSi

7.60 3

Great Battles of Julius Caesar interactive Magic

7,39 4

—

Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far Aiomic/Microsoft

7.19 4.5

k COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ♦JULY 1999

Games on unnumbered lines are tied with game on line above. ★ = Top game of genre. Red = New Game, AD = Adventure, RP = Roie-Playing, SI = Simulation/Space
Combat, ST = Strategy, WG = Wargame, AC = Action, SP = Sports, CP = Classic/Puzzle. Games are retired after two years and become eligible for the Hall of Fame.

StarCraft: Brood War Blizzard

9.29

WWII Fighters EA/Jane's

7.97

4.5 1

Half-Life Sierra

9.24

Quake II Pack; The Reckoning id Software/Aaivision

7,96

3-5

—

FIFA 99 EA Sports

9.21

4.5

Sid Meier's Gettysburg EA/Firaxis

7,95

4,5

NHL Hockey 99 Sports

9.12

Starsiege Tribes Sierra

7-94

4.5

Links LS 1999 Access Software

8.99

You Don't Know Jack 3 Berkeley Systems

7.93

Heroes II: Price of Loyalty 3DO/New World

8.89

Freespace; Silent Threat interplay

7.91

StarCraft Blizzard

8.76

Smart Games Challenge 2 Smart Games Inc.

7.90

Grim Fandango lucasArts

8.74

4.5

Age of Empires Microsoft

7.89

4.5

Total Annihilation: Core Contingency Cavedog

8.73

4-5

You Don't Know Jack Movies Berkeley Systems

7.88

4.5

Baldur's Gate Interplay

8.72

StarCraft: Insurrection Aztech New Media

7.84

3.5

Might and Magic Vi 300/New World

8.71

4,5

Smart Games Challenge 3 Smart Games/Hasbro

7.84

NHL 98 EA Sports

8.53

Hellfire Sierra

7.81

“I

Wing Commander: Prophecy Gold Origin

8.51

Sanitarium ASC Games

7.80

4,5

World Cup 98 EA Sports

8.50

4.5

63 Battleground: Napoleon in Russia TalonSoft

7,79

4.5

Total Annihilation: Battle Tactics Cavedog

8.46

3.5

Battleground: Bull Run TalonSoft

7.78

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 11 LucasArts

8.44

4,5

independence War Infogrames/Ocean

7.77

Quake II Activision

8.42

4.5

Worms 2 MicroProse

7.75

Longbow 2 EA/Jane's

8.41

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate SSI

7.73

Thief: The Dark Project Eidos

8.40

4.5

Heretic II Activision

7,72

4.5

Quake Pack 1:Armagon id Software/Rituai

8.39

4,5

Warlords 111: Darklords Rising Red Orb/SSG

7.71

4.5

Quake Pack 2: Dissolution id Software/Rogue

8.38

Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds MicroProse

7.67

FIFA Road to World Cup 98 EA Sports

8.35

4,5

You Don't Know Jack TV Berkeley Systems

7.66

2-5

Need for Speed III EA

8.34

Moto Racer EA

7.65

Fallout Interplay

8.27

4.5

Descent: Freespace interplay

7,64

Falcon 4.0 tvticroProse/Hasbro

8.26

3.5

Madden NFL 99 EA Sports

7.63

4.5

Steel Panthers II Campaign Disk SSI

8.25

4,5

F22ADF Infogrames/DID

7,62

4.5

Wing Commander; Prophecy Origin

8.24

4.5

Caesar Ml Sierra

7.61

4.5

Jedi Knight; Mysteries of the Sith LucasArts

8.23

Zork: Grand Inquisitor Activision

7.61

N/R

West Front TalonSoft

8.22

70 People's General SSI

7.60

Fallout 2 Interplay

8.21

Twinsen's Odyssey Activision

7.60

SimCity 3000 Maxls/EA

8.20

Diamond Mind Baseball 7.0 Diamond Mind

7.59

3,5

European Air War MicroProse

8.20

Flight Unlimited 2 Looking Glass

7. 58

4.5

Total Annihilation GT Interactive

8.19

4.5

MechWarrior 2; Mercenaries Activision

7.57

4.5

NBA Live 98 EA Sports

8.18

4.5

83 Fighters Anthology EA

7.56

3.5

Panzer General II SSI

8.17

Battlezone Activision

7.55

Curse of Monkey Island LucasArts

8.16

Blade Runner VirgIn/Westwood

7.53

4.5

Rainbow Six; Eaglewatch Red Storm

8.15

4.5

Tomb Raider II Eidos Interactive

7.51

Shogo; Mobile Armor Division Monolith

8-14

3,5

Red Baron 3D Dynamix

7.50

—

F-15 EA/Origin

8.14

4,5

Dungeon Keeper Expansion EA/8ullfrog

7.49

4.5

The Operational Art of War TalonSoft

8.13

4,5

Baseball Mogul infinite Monkey

7.46

Unreal GT interactive

8.10

Triple Play 99 EA Sports

7.45

2.5

Red Alert: Counterstrike Westwood

8.09

MechCommander MicroProse

7.45

Motocross Madness Microsoft

8.05

4.5

Myth Bungie

7.44

4.5

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome Microsoft

8.04

FI Racing Simulation UbiSoft

7.41

Railroad Tycoon II Gathering of Developers

8,03

4.5

NFL Gameday 99 989 Studios/Sony

7.40

—

NFL Blitz Midway

8.03

3.5

Virtual Pool 2 Interplay

7.40

4,5

Rogue Squadron LucasArts

8.02

3.5

Great Battles of Julius Caesar Interactive Magic

7.39

Quake II Pack 2: Ground Zero Activision

8.00

3.5

Interstate 76 Activision

7.38

4.5

Jack Nicklaus 5 Accolade

7,99

Last Express Red Orb

7.37

4.5

Final Fantasy VII Eldos/Squaresofi

7.98

100 99

Dungeon Keeper EA/Bullfrog

7.29

4.5

u.computergaming.c

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD » JULY 1999

A Brief History Of PC Gaming

A Handy Clip-and-Save Guide, Compiled With Love

omputer gaming has a long and sto-
ried history. Unfortunately, over the
years, it has been obfuscated by a
steady stream of misleading blather
and erroneous hoo-hah, Of course, at
times, it was the hoo-hah that was
misleading and the blather that was erro-
neous. but we should not let such technicali-
ties lead us astray. Once we're led astray, the
way becomes unclear, and the threads of
coherent argument vanish before us, like the
proverbial dust in the wind of which the rock
band Kansas once spoke so eloquently.

['ll start again.

This month, as a public service,

Greenspeak presents to you, free of charge,
this exclusive Pocket History of Computer
Gaming, which you may feel free to clip and
save in your wallet, or staple to the back of
your brother’s head, for easy reference. Many
sources contributed to this work, though I
must single out one in particular, the revela-
tory Dutch pictorial How Yaks Mafe. Though
it did not contribute directly to this piece, it
was my constant companion during these
exhaustive weeks of research — especially
page 37.

Without further ado, or anything even
slightly resembling ado, let us begin.

70,000 B.C. First recorded incident of human
violence. Og, a Neanderthal, bashes Ug,
another Neanderthal, over the head with a
large bone, in a heated dispute over a mud
puddle. A committee is formed, the Group of
Outraged Neanderthals (GOON), who immedi-
ately blame the act on a popular game of the
time, Beat THE Stupid Neanderthal Gaming
takes its first serious public relations hit.

500 B.C. Roman entertainer Jonas Romerius
publishes a scroll detailing his plans to create
a public spectacular known as "Daikatana."
He's later found wandering the streets shout-
ing "Thou shalt be mine, bitch!" to bewil-
dered Roman crowds, who promptly stone
him to death.

215 B.C. China builds the Great Wall in an
attempt to be the first civilization to build a
Wonder and "win the game." Leaders are
publicly flogged after it is pointed out to
them that AGE OF EMPIRES won't be released
for another 2,000 years.

410 A.D. Visigoths sack Rome. Disgraced
Roman leader Terrius Colemanus, in an
attempt to explain why he sat idly by while
the city was destroyed, claims that he was

under the mistaken impression that the war
was "turn-based." Bewildered Roman crowds
promptly stone him to death.

1337 The Hundred Years' War begins, following
an ugly deathmatch in which the King of
England calls the King of France a "camping
wussy."

1455 First Daikatana levels completed, then
scrapped, following invention of the printing
press, which renders the game obsolete.

1483 Spanish Inquisition begins. WizardWorks’
budget-priced Heretic Hunter tops the best-
seller charts for the next 1 00 years.

1492 Columbus discovers America, in a now-
famous letter to the Queen of Spain he bitter-
ly complains, "1 would have discovered it a
lot sooner. Your
Majesty, if it was-
n't for that freak-
ing fog-of-war."
1684 Isaac
Newton invents
mouse look.
"While my earlier
success with this
whole apple-
falling-on-my-
head gravity

business no doubt assures my place in the
history books," he wrote in his journal, "I
must say I am even more proud of the mouse
look, which is finally going to allow me to
kick some serious multiplayer ass."

1792 Women's rights movement begins with
the publication of Mary Wollenstonecraft's A
Vindication of the Rights of Women. "Take
heart, girls," she wrote. "In a mere 200 years,
we will be the protagonists, the heroes, of
the games men play. Our breasts will be huge
in these games, and our butts, they will be
fabulous. Desperate magazines will feature us
half-naked on their covers, in a shameless
attempt to boost sales. Even better, girls, we
will still make them beg for sex."

1812. The War of 1812. First appearance of
hexes on a battlefield.

1859 Charles Darwin publishes the Origin of
Species, which expounds his theories on nat-
ural selection and the "survival of the
fittest." Theory discredited 140 years later

after an international gathering of scientists
in Geneva is unable to explain the continued
success of Billy Crystal.

1860 Daikatana team says a beta is "immi-
nent," but outbreak of Civil War puts the
game "on temporary hold."

1903 Wright Brothers fly first controlled air-
plane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The fol-
lowing day, posts begin appearing on the
flight sim newsgroups ridiculing the plane's
"unrealistic flight model."

1920 First professional football league found-
ed. Sierra, in a disastrous public relations
move, prematurely releases first football
game, neglecting to include stadiums, players,
or a football.

1931 William Shatner born. Decline of Western
civilization officially begins.

1956 Elvis Presley sweeps the world with his
swiveling, gyrating hips. Young male scien-
tists, suddenly feeling awkward and confused
inside, step up their efforts to invent the per-
sonal computer.

1973 Embattled U.S. President Richard Nixon
delivers famous "I am not a crook" speech.
On the same day, Daikatana team assures
public that the game is right on time, and
should ship "within the month."

1981 First issue of Computer Gaming World
published. Beginning with second issue, com-
plaints appear on newsgroups lamenting
CGW's decline.

1984 Apple Macintosh released, unleashing an
exciting new era in gaming, in which year-old
titles are made available to dozens of gamers
everywhere.

1994 Myst released. Everyone and their grand-
ma buys it. Half the people who buy it don't
even have computers. No one knows how to
play it. "What is this thing," asks mygrand-
ma, "a little frisbee?"

1 999 Daikatana demo is released. The world's
gone mad. Nothing makes sense anymore.
Must be this Y2K thing. Time to head for
the bunker.

What Jeff doesn't realize is that the circle strafe
evolved from a strange naked mating ritual
of the ancient Druids. Send your survival tips,
and other email, to Jeff at jhgreen@zd.com.

Our breasts will be huge in these games,
and our butts, they will be fabulous.

Compute' Gaming IVoi-WIISSN 07*14-6667) is pjblislied moi'lhiy b/ ZD Inc. One Pjrk Avenue, New York, NY 10016, Subscnplion rate is $27,97 (or a one-year sjbjciiption (12 issues) Canada and all older
counines add $16 00 Tor surface mail. Postmaster; Send address changes to Computer Gaming World. P.O. Box 57167, Boulder, CO 80328-7167, Canadian GST registration number is 89371 0442 RT Canada
Post InternHlional Pub's Mail Product (Canaria Distribution) Sales Agreement No 1058649, Penodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10016 and additional mailing olfices. Printed in the U.S.A,

Rjik COMPUTER GAMING WORLD ‘JULY 1999

wcomputerg.iming.c

DELL* INSPIRQN'” 7000 A366LT

PENTIUM* II PROCESSOR AT 366MHz

I Desktop Features, Notebook
I Convenience

• 15“ XGA Active Matrix Display

• 96MB SDRAM (384MB Max”)

• /VW 10GB' UltraATA Hard Drive

• Removable Combo 2X^ Variable DVD-ROM
and Floppy Drive

• 2X AGP 8MB ATI RAGE LT Pro 3D Video

• 3D Surround Sound with Wavetable

• Lithium Ion Battery

• Internal 56K Capable" V.90 Fax Modem with
Trial Offer ConnectDirecf" internet Access''

• MS* Office 97 SBE (Ask about our FREEMS
Office 2000 Upgrade Offer)

• MS Windows® 98/Touchpad

• Inspiron Setup Video/Deluxe Nylon Case

• 3- Year Limited Warranty^

|$3499

I $105/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan“

S E*VALUE CODE: 88805-800534

USE THE POWER OP
THE E'VAIUE’” COPE.

MATCH OUR UTESnECHNOlOGY WITH I
, OUflUTESTPflICES.ENTERTHEEWAlUE I
CODE ONUNE DR GIVE IT TO YOUR SALES I
REP OVER THE PHONE

i WWW.PE11.COM/EVAIUE |

r'/i / V/ i \ /*///

■ Packed with the Pentium' 11 processor at 366MHz, SMB of VRAM and a
15'inch display, the Dell lnspiron'“ 7000 A366LT notebook lets you put the
pedal to the metal. After all, you won’t find these kinds of numbers on just
any'notebook. Because this isn’t just any notebook. Just ask the folks at PC
Magazine who designated this Inspiron 7000 A366LT their Editors’ Choice
for sjjiall business/single user.'' Call us or visit www.dell.com to build yours todtiy.

800 - 953-4018

Pentium*!!

Are you Y2K OK? www.dell.coni/y2k

Phone Hours: M-F 7a-11p • Sat-Sun 8a-8p CT

In Canada; call 800-839-0148 • In Mexico,' call 001-800-210-7607

^8-Mo. Purchase Plan offered through Dell Financial Services LP., 14050 Summit Dr, Austin, TX 78728, to
qualified consumers. Only available in the 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia, except AR & MN.
Availability may be limited or offer may vary In some states. Advertised payments ore based on sales prices
depicted (or 48-mo. term at 18.99% APR, with approved credit. Excludes taxes & shipping charges which
vary (For example, based on sales price of S3499 for a notebook system, the total of sales taxes Si shipping
charges via 3- to 5-day ground to Hartford City, IN would be S269.95 [includes sales taxes of SI 74.95 and
shipping charges of S95.00].). Taxes & shipping charges due with 1st payment unless included in the amount
financed, in which case your monthly payment will be higher.

BE DIRECT"

www.dell.com

DELL^DIMENSION^ DESKTOPS

NOW THAT YOU'VE
GRADUATED, YOU
SHOULD BE SMART
ENOUGH TO BUY
A DELL.

No matter what path you take, Dell wants
to help you make a smart decision when it
comes to computers. You can go online or call
our helpful sales representatives to get Dell’s
award-winning systems at low prices. Either way,
you can custom configure a computer to suit
your needs. And receive technical support at
any hour of the day or night with a call or a click.
Add in Dell’s smart payment plans that help
you make the most of your purchase, and it’s
no wonder smart people are making smart
choices with Dell. So give us a call or stop by
www.dell.com to order today.

Common features: Mini-Tower Model ♦ 512K6 Integrated L2 Cache (128KB on Intel ' Cele
Access'* ♦ MS' Works Suite 99 with Money 99 Basic ♦ 3.5’ Floppy Disk Drive ♦ Universal
Upgrades: HP'’ OfficeJet 710, add S499 ♦ APC Back-UPS Office, add $99 ♦ HP DeskJet

DELL DIMENSION V400C

DELL DIMENSION XPST450

INTEL CELERON PROCESSOR AT 400MHz

PENTIUM III PROCESSOR AT 450MHz

• 32MB SDRAM

• g6MB lOOMHz SDRAM

• 1

• 4,3GB* Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• WfW9.lGB* Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• f

• 15' (IS.S' viewable) BOOFMonitor

• 17" (16.0' viewable, .26dp) M780 Monitor

• 1

• ATI SMB 3D AGP Graphics Card

• 1

• 32X Max® Variable CD-ROM Drive

• 40X Max® Variable CD-ROM Drive

• Yamaha XG 64V Wavetable Sound

• f

• harman/kardon HK-195 Speakers

•T

• Dell QuietKey^ Keyboard/Logitech

• Dell QuietKey Keyboard/

First Mouse + Wheel

MS IntelNMouse’

• h

$999

$1559

• 1

• ^

$30/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Pian“

$47/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan^

• P

^ E-VALUE CODE: 88806-508589

Si E-VALUE CODE: 88306-500515

DEU-RECOMMENDED UPGRADE

DELL-RECOMMENDED UPGRADE

64MB SDRAM, NEW ACS-340 Speakers
with Subwoofer, WOMB Iomega Zip
BUILT-IN Drive

ADD ®179

16MB Diamond Viper 3D AGP Graphics
Card. ACS-34Q Speakers w/Subwoofer,
WOMB Iomega Zip BUILT-IN Drive

ADD «139

$6[

^ E-VALUE CODE: 83306-500511 b

jgj E-VALUE CODE: 03806-5005160

DELL INSPlROr NOTEBOOKS

Common features: 3D Surround Sound with Wavetable ♦ Lithium Ion Battery ♦ MS Winr
Upgrades: Canon BJC-50 Portable Printer, add S349 ♦ Targus Oefcon Notebook Alarm, adi

NEW DELL INSPIRON 3500 C333)Cr NEW DELL INSPIRON 7000 A300LT D
INTELCELERON PROCESSOR AT 333MHz PENTIUM II PROCESSOR AT SOOPEMHz PI

Light Weight, Light Price Desktop Features, Notebook Convenience | Di

• 13.3''XGAActiveMatrix0ispiay • 15‘ XGA Active Matrix Display j«

• 32MB SDRAM (256MB Max)

•32MB SDRAM (384MB Max'")

• 4.3GB^ Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• Modular 24X Max' Variable CD-ROM
» NeoMagic*256AV AGP Video

• MS Works Suite 99 with Money 99 Basic

$1799

$54/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Pian“

^ E-VALUE CODE: 8880E-8D0517

Om-BECOMMENDEO UPGRADE

Deluxe Nylon Case, 5.4GB Hard Drive,
5BK Capable" Fax Modem wilh Trial
Offer ConneclDIrect Internet Access'^

ADD $199

g E'VALUE CODE: 8880G-800519z

• 4.3GB‘ Ultra ATA Hard Drive | •

• Removable Combo 24X Max' Variable , •

CD-ROM and Floppy Drive j

• 2X AGP 4MB ATI RAGE'^ LT Pro 3D Video I •

• Internal 56K Capable" V.90 Fax Modem i •

with Trial Offer ConnectDirect I

Internet Access” I

• MS Works Suite 99 with Money 99 Basic | •

• Upgrade to a 6.4GB Ultra ATA Hard . •

Drive, add S99. I*

• Upgrade to 64MB SDRAM, add $99. I

S72/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan^^ SI

^ E-VALUE CODE: 33808-888523 |

$2399

Pentium”///

Phone Hours: M-F 7a-11p • Sat-Sun 8a-ap CT

In Canada,' call 800-839-0146 * In Mexico,' call 001-800-210-7607

Pricing not discouniable 'Prices and specilicalions valid in U.S. oniy and subject to . . „

Guarantees or Limited Waitamies, write Oeil USA L.P , Attn Warranties, One Deil Way, ft
service provided via service contract between customer and third-party provider, and is not avaiiahle in cenain remnle areas,
Technician dispaictied it necessary pursuant to phone-based troubleshooting wilh lechnicai support personnel. ‘For hard drives, GB
means 1 billion bytes' total accessibie capacity varies depending on operating environment. ^ITX Min. M4X Min. 'lOX Mm. ''2X
Min. "Download speeds limited to SSKbps. Upload speeds ate less (in the SOKbps tango) and vary by modem manufacturer. Speeds
also vary depending on line conditions Analog phone line and compatible server equipment requited. "Maximum RAM
configurations require a factory installed 120MB SoDIMM, whicti must bo installed at time ol initial purchase. '‘Otfers differ for
ATaf WofldNet and GTE Interactive. Some charges may apply. '%r Inspiton 3500 only, "limit SlOO per household. Not valid with
other Hewlett Packard (HP) otfers unless otherwise specified by that otter. Customer must mail in completed rebate couponlsl and
original or copy of leceipHsl deled from 5/2/99 to 7/3/99 lor all products. Submissions must be postmarked no later than 8/3/99
and received no later than B/I7/M. Customer will receive rebate check, approximaialy 8-10 weeks aller receipt of rebate materials.
^Requites Windows 98. ”While supplies last, ”1X Min. Intel, the Intel Insido logo and Pentium are registered trademarks and
Celeron is a trademark ol Intel Corporation. MS, Microsoft, IntelliMousc and Windows are registered trademarks ol Microsoft
Corporation, 3Com is a registered trademark ol 3Com Corporation. HP and DeskJet are registered trademarks ol Hewlett Packard
Corporation, Trinitron is a registered trademark ol Sony Corporation. ©1999 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.

3348-Mo. Purchase Plan offered through Dell Fin
Services L.P., 14050 Summit Dr., Austin, TX 78
qualified consumers. Only available in the 50 U.S.
and District of Columbia, except AR & MN. Avail
may be limited or offer may vary in some s
Advertised payments are based on sales prices dt
for 48-mo. term at 18.99% APR, with approved
Excludes taxes & shipping charges which va
example, based on sales price of S999 for a d>
system, the total of sales taxes & shipping charge:
to S-day ground to Hartford City, IN would be i
[includes sales taxes of S49.95 and shipping cha
$95.00].). Taxes & shipping charges due wilh 1st p.
unless included in the amount financed, in whre
your monthly payment will be higher.

PRE-LOADED SOFTWAREOPTIONS

in'” Processor-based Systems) ♦ 3Com' USR V.90" PCI Telephony WinModem with Trial Offer ConnectDirect '' Internet
erial Bus (USB) Ports ♦ McAfee VirusScan ♦ MS Windows- 98 ♦ 3-Year Limited Warranty^ ♦ 1 -Year At-home^ Service
iCse, add $399 ($50 HP Mail-in Rebate^ Available) ♦ HP ScanJet 6200, add S399

V DELL DIMENSION XPS T500 NEW DELL DIMENSION XPS T500 NEW DELL DIMENSION XPS T500
TIUM III PROCESSOR AT SOOMHz PENTIUM III PROCESSOR AT 500MHz PENTIUM III PROCESSOR AT 500MHz

SMB lOOMHz SDRAM
W9,1GB‘ UltraATA Hard Drive
'(16.0“ viewable, .26dp) M780 Monitor
MB Diamond Viper TNT 3D AGP
aphics Card

W 6X Max'° Variable DVD-ROM Drive
'tie Beach Montego II A3D 320V
und Card

rman/kardon HK-195 Speakers

0MB Iomega Zip BUILT-IN Drive

^ Natural Keyboard Elite

j IntelliMouse

wer Game Pack’-

grade to a 17'(W.0'‘ viewable, .26dpl

OOHS Trinitron' Monitor, add S99.

1999

Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan“

EWALUECODE: 88306-500519

• 128MB 100MHz SDRAM

• /VfhV 20.4GB' Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• 17" (16.0' viewable, .2Bdp)1000HS
Trinitron Monitor

• 1 6MB Diamond Viper TNT 30 AGP
Graphics Card

• A/fH/6XMax'“ Variable DVD-ROM Drive

• Turtle Beach Montego II A30 320V
Sound Card

• A/£WACS-340 Speakers with Subwoofer

• 10DM8 Iomega Zip BUILT-IN Drive

• Deli QuietKey Keyboard

• MS IntelliMouse

• Power Game Pack^^

• Upgrade to ACS-495 Surround Sound
Speakers with Subwoofer, add S69.

$2299

$69/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan“

^ E'VALUE CODE; 88806-500522)

• 128MB lOOMHz SDRAM

• NEW 25,5GB^ Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• 19“ (18.0“ viewable, .26dp) P990
Trinitron Monitor

• 16MB Diamond Viper TNT 3D AGP
Graphics Card

• /Vfl4/6XMax'“ Variable DVD-ROM Drive

• A/fl4^ SoundBlaster Live! Value 512V
Sound Card

• ADA 880 Dolby Digital Speakers
with Subwoofer

• 100MB Iomega Zip BUILT-IN Drive

• Dell QuietKey Keyboard

• MS IntelliMouse

• Power Game Pack^^

• STB PCI TV/FM Tuner. addSW9.

$2799

$84/Mo-, 48-Month Purchase P!an“

^ E'VALUE CODE: 88806-500527

Microsoft^ Office 97 Small
Business Edition v2.0:

(Ask about Our fflff MS Office
2000 Upgrade Offer) Word 97, Excel
97, Publisher 98, Outlook 98, Small
Business Financial Mgr, 98 and
Expedia Streets 98.

Microsoft Works Suite 99;

Word 97, Encarta Encyclopedia 99,
Money 99 Basic, Works 4.5a,
Works Calendar, Graphic Studio
Greetings and Expedia Streets 98.

SOFTWARE BUNDLES

Fast Track Game Pack S79:

Tomb Raider 2, Jack Nicklaus Golf
5.0, Titanic; Adventure Out of Time,
Hardball 6.0 and Total Annihilation,

Quicken 99 Power Bundle S79:

Quicken Deluxe 99, Quicken Financial
Planner, Quicken Family Lawyer.

POWER UPGRADES

iws 98 ♦ Touchpad ♦ 3- Year Limited Warranty^ ♦ Setup Video
$49 ♦ APC Notebook Surge Protector, add $29

LL INSPIRON 7000 A333GT DELL INSPIRON 7000 A366LT
jTiUM II PROCESSOR AT 333MHz PENTIUM 11 PROCESSOR AT 366MHz

ktop Features, Notebook Convenience

4.1 “ XGA Active Matrix Display
4MB SDRAM (384MB Max’ll
4GB'' Ultra ATA Hard Drive
emovable Combo 24X Max’ Variable
D-ROM and Floppy Drive
X AGP SMB ATI RAGE LT Pro 3D Video
iternai 56K Capable" V.90 Fax Modem
ith Trial Offer ConnectDirect
iternet Access"

IS Works Suite 99 with Money 99 Basic
aluxe Nylon Case
ograde to a 10GB Ultra ATA Hard
'ive, add $199.

pgrade to 128MB SDRAM, add $199.

2699

/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan^^

J E'VALUE CODE: 88806-800526

Desktop Features, Notebook Convenience

• 1 5“ XGA Active Matrix Display

• 96MB SDRAM (384MB Max")

• 1 0GB‘ Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• Removable Combo 2X^ DVD-ROM and
Floppy Drive

• 2X AGP 8MB ATI RAGE LT Pro 30 Video

• Internal 56K Capable" V.90 Fax
Modem with Trial Offer ConnectDirect
Internet Access"

• MS Office Small Business Edition

• Inspiron 7000 Port Replicator, add $149.

• WOMB Iomega Zip Internal Drive,
add $139.

• Second Lithium Ion Battery, add $119.

$3499

$1 05/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan^^

E-VALUE CODE: 88806-800634

RECEIVE UP TO S100 OFF WITH MAIL-IN REBATES ON THESE HP PRODUCTS
WHEN PURCHASED WITHA DELL DIMENSION DESKTOP AND MONITOR.
OFFER EXPIRES 7/3/99?'^

AfflV HP DESKJET 882C

COLOR PRINTER '1

• Brilliant photo-quality printing jfk

on any paper 9|

• Up to 8 ppm black, 5 ppm color

• Parallel or USB^' connectivity

$299

S50 HP MAIL-IN REBATE’" Available

NEW HP SCANjrr 52l}0Cse SCANNER

• Single push-button scanning and copying

^ i

• 600 X 1 200 dpi, 9600 dpi enhanced, 36-bit color

$299

S50 HP MAIL-IN REBATE’" Available

APC SURGEStATION PR08T2

• Helps protect your system against
electrical surges

• 8 outlets with block spacing for 3 outlets

• Provides S10K equipment protection warranty

$39

PREMIER 3-YEAR ON-SITE’ SERVICE

• Sends a technician to your door the
next business day if necessary after
phone-based troubleshooting

• Protects your PC from expensive technical
support costs down the road

Desktop Service

W $149

Notebook Service'"

Are you Y2K OK? www.dell.com/y2k

USE THE POWER OF THE
E*VALUE'”CODE.

MATCH OUR LATEST TECHNOLOGY WITH OUH
LATEST PRICES ENTER THE E*VALUE CODE
ONLINE OR GIVE IT TO YOUR SALES REP OVER
THE PHONE. ALSO. GO ONLINE TO DESIGN YOUR
IDEAL COMPUTER. CHECK THE LATEST PRICES
ANO GET 24 HR. ONLINE TECH SUPPORT.

WWW.DEU.COM/EVALUE

800-953-4018

BE DIRECT"

D04L

www.dell.com

INTRODUCING DELL'S NE1V DESKTOP FEATURING THE PENTIUM® III PROCESSOR

NEW DELL* DIMENSION* XPS T550
PENTIUM* III PROCESSOR AT 550MHz

• 128MB 100MHz SDRAM

• A/W 9.1GB' Ultra ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

• 17" (16.0“ viewable, -26dp) M780 Monitor

• 16MB Diamond Viper TNT 30 AGP Graphics Card

• 40X Max^ Variable CD-ROM Drive

• Turtle Beach Montego II A3D 320V Sound Card

• liarman/kardonHK-195 Speakers

• 3Com’' USRobotics V.90" PCI WinModemwith
Trial Offer ConnectDirecf'' Internet Access"

• 100MB Iomega Zip BUILT-IN Drive with
One Disk

• MS'- Works Suite 99 with Money 99 Basic;
McAfee VirusScan

• MS Windows* 98/Logitech MoiiseMan
Wheel (PS/2v)

• Dell QuietXey* Keyboard

• 3-Year Limited Warranty^

• 1 -Year Next-Business-Day At-home^ Service

• Power Game Pack^'

$2199

$66/Mo., 48-Month Purchase Plan^'

^ EWALUE CODE: 88804-500521s

With the new Intel’ Pentium III
processor at 550MHz, our new Dell’
Dimension' XPS T550 represents a
new generation of .3D technology.
This system is designed to optimize
the next wave of power-hungry apps
and peripherals, like hyper-realistic
gaming and digital cameras. Give us
a call or visit our website. And we’ll
build you a piece of tomorrow, today.

800 - 953-4018

BE DIRECT”

ow.

www.dell.com

Pentium ///

Are you Y2K OK? www.dell.coTn/yZk

Phone Hours: M-F7a-11p • Sat-Sun8a-8p CT • In Canada,' call 800-839-0148 • In Mexico,' callOOI-800-210-7607

“48-Md. Purchase Plan offered through Dell Financial Services LP., 14050 Summit Dr, Austin, TX 78728, to qualified consumers. Only available
in the 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia, except AR & MN. Availability may be limited or offer may vary in some states. Advertised
payments arc based on sales prices depicted for 48-mo. term at 18.99% APR, with approved credit. Exc1udestaxes& shipping charges which
vary (For example, based on sales price of S2199 (or a desktop system, the total of sales taxes 8i shipping charges via 3- to 5-day ground to
Hartford City, IN would be S204.95 [includes sales taxes of S109.95 and shipping charges of S95.00].). Taxes & shipping charges due with 1st
payment unless included in the amount financed, in which case your monthly payment will be higher.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Computer Gaming World Issue 180"

See other formats